Brother Jacob [Paperback]

Mothers tell their children not to waste food or anything else. We can add: don't waste the opportunity to read amazon's free classics. This short book, which amazon gives free to kindle owners, was composed by George Elliot (1819-1880). It is very funny.

David Faux is an apprentice at a confectionary store, but he hates it. He feels that he is better than other people, is above the average in intelligence, and he wants a job fitting his potential. But since he has no other skills, he finishes his apprentice work, and then decides to run off to the West Indies to make his fortune. But he has no money.

His family has some money, but not much. His father promised him 100 pounds in his will, but he was still alive. His mother has 20 pounds in a jar and promised each of her seven children a share, about 3 pounds apiece. One of the sons, Jacob, is an idiot, who can hardly speak. David is afraid to steal from anyone else, so he steals his mother's 20 pounds. But he didn't count on Jacob who he had always ignored.
David takes the money and runs to hide it in a hole, but Jacob comes and recognizes that the 20 pounds belongs to his mother. David tries to distract Jacob by offering him candy, which he likes very much, but David doesn't understand an idiot. Jacob doesn't want to leave David who keeps giving him candy. George Elliot describes David's various humorous maneuvers to get away and travel to the West Indies.

Six years later, David returns to England to a small town far from his family. He takes the name Edward Freely and is determined to start a new life and be successful. He was unsuccessful in the West Indies. Since he didn't know how to do anything else, he was a confectionary there. He opens a confectionary shop in the small town, and decides that he is going to marry the daughter of one of the town's richest men. Elliot describes how the suspicious small town people come to trust this stranger, how the women of the town give up much of their cooking and buy his goods, and how David fools the town into thinking he is from a prosperous family by putting the picture of a one-armed Navy Admiral in his shop and claiming the man is his uncle and by saying that he has another uncle in the West Indies who is very rich, has no heir, and promised him his fortune. The engagement is arranged. But, David sees a notice in the newspaper requesting David Faux to contact an attorney from whom he will hear "something to his advantage."

David's father died and left him the 100 pounds, less the 20 he stole, plus the nearly three pounds his mother promised him. David collects the money and returns to his false identity and promising future. But Jacob finds out where his candy man is living and clumsily and virtually incoherently arrives. Elliot describes this humorous arrival, the effect it has on the rich man and his daughter and the entire town, and how it affects David's plan to finally be able to give up his confectionary business.

Brother Jacob by George Eliot. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

This ebook has a very good table of contents. ToC is linked to every chapter. It works great on my Kindle!

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars