- Paperback: 536 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks (Sep 1 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0192833219
- ISBN-13: 978-0192833211
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 12.8 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 376 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,179,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
`I am simply steeped in Miss Braddon' Alfred Lord Tennyson Tennyson was not the only Victorian reader to be captivated by Mary Elizabeth Braddon's fiction. While still in her mid-twenties, Braddon scored two remarkable hits with the sensational Lady Audley's Secret and Aurora Floyd. John Marchmont's Legacy deserves to take its place alongside them for a plot charged with drama and mystery, its eerie atmosphere and, above all, its depiction of an extraordinary woman. In remote Lincolnshire, `fenny, misty, and flat always', Olivia Arundel can find no outlet for either her intellectual abilities or her fierce passions, but is compelled to look on as the man she loves has thoughts only for a woman whose gifts are vastly inferior to her own. Braddon once declared that Wilkie Collins, the master of the `sensation novel', was `asssuredly my literary father'; she herself has the same skill in weaving a story of mystery, conspiracy, menace and violence, while the energy and vivacity of her narrative are all her own.
About the Author
Norman Page, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Nottingham. Toru Sasaki, Associate Professor of English, Kyoto University.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not her best effort but, not horrible either................,
By A Customer
This review is from: John Marchmont's Legacy (Paperback)
I will have to agree that this is NOT Braddon's best work. However, it is not as bad as some of the other reviewers make it out to be. The biggest fault is that the story is quite slow to get going. If the reader can hang on and make it through about a third of the story, they will be rewarded with what we normally expect in sensation fiction. I was also somewhat put off by the little synopsis on the back of the book. It is very misleading. There is a lot more to the plot than what that little blurb suggests.If you are new to Braddon, I would suggest starting with some of her other titles such as The Trail of The Serpent or Aurora Floyd.
3.0 out of 5 stars
a rather unsensational 'sensation' novel..,
By lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: John Marchmont's Legacy (Paperback)
During the 1860s Wilkie Collins, with his terrific The Woman In White, started the period of 'sensation' novels. These novels are rather over-the-type, almost slapstick-like mystery stories. Mary Elizabeth Braddon followed with her own flavor of sensation novels. While I love many of Wilkie Collins novels I was disappointed with Braddon's most famous work, Lady Audley's Secret. But when I ran into a copy of John Marchmont's Legacy I thought I'd give Ms Braddon a try. Was I disappointed? Well...Firstly, the story is a typical Victorian era melodrama: family members squabbling over an inheritance, with certain members stopping at nothing to become rich. Ms Braddon does do a good job on the characterizations, and the ultimate mystery does build up to a good conclusion. The book is nicely structured (..unlike Lady Audley's Secret, where we find the story basically ending 100 pages from the finish). However Ms Braddon is simply not a very good writer. Her prose is weak, especially compared to Wilkie Collins. Every third sentence ends with an exclamation point, which must be Ms Braddon's way of indicating high drama (?). Bottom line: a unremarkable slice of Victorian literary history. Certainly not terrible, but nonetheless a far cry from Wilkie Collins material.
1.0 out of 5 stars
IMO It's Bad,
By A Customer
This review is from: John Marchmont's Legacy (Paperback)
I got here after getting to Collins, after going through Dickens. This is an awful book, in my humble opinion. Why has it been resurrected? (Rhetorical) If you love Dickens, maybe you found Collins, and if you love Collins, then you and I are relevantly similar, so let me tell you, don't bother with this insipid tripe, or with "Doctor's Wife" for that matter. Unless you are simply obligated, because you are a gendered wannabe English professor, in some forsaken place, poor you.
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