“Reading gives us
someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”
Mason Cooley
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Author=© Jorge Royan|License=CC-BY-SA-3.0
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Another blog post in the series looking at the books read by
Henry Wilkinson whilst a prisoner of war at Stralsund. As our nights start to draw in, maybe there
is something in this group, which includes three books involving travel that
takes your fancy. It is a long held
belief that books can transport us to a different place but the idea of reading
about distant lands (the South Pacific is about as far removed from the
Prussian coastal prison camp as you could get) whilst in captivity must have been
bittersweet.
Jupiter Lights, Constance F Woolson, published 1889, read 13
July 1918
Jack Bruce left England to fight in the American Civil War where
he has married and had a child. Jack
dies of yellow fever and his wife quickly remarries, to a man who likes to
drink and gets violent when he does.
Jack’s sister Eva travels to South Carolina to her retrieve her nephew
and take him back to England. Eva ends
up staying in America longer than planned when events take a desperate turn.
(Summarised from reviews on Good Reads and Amazon)
Avenged on
Society, HF Wood, published 1893, read 14 July 1918
A satire
written in a diary style in which the author inserts himself as a character –
it tries to comment on society’s penchant for romanticising criminals who got
away with their crimes.
(Summarised
from a review in The Spectator 15 April 1893)
A Son of the Sun, Jack London, published 1912, read
16 July 1918
A book of eight short stories about Captain David
Grief, a businessman with financial interests in the islands of the South
Pacific. Set at the beginning of the 20th
century, the stories tell of Grief’s adventures, inspired by the authors own
experiences sailing in the region.
(Summarised from Wikipedia)
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| A New England Nun and Other Stories, University of South Carolina Special Collections |
A New
England Nun, ME Wilkins, published 1891, read 17 July 1918
Published in
a collection of short stories by the same story, the title story is that of
Louisa Ellis, a woman who has lived alone for many years and is set in her
particular ways. Fourteen years earlier,
she had promised to marry Joe Daggett when he returned from seeking his fortune
in Australia. When Joe returns, Louisa
finds it difficult to adapt after such a long time alone but believes a promise
is a promise. However, she finds out
that Joe has developed feelings for the woman who has been looking after his
mother. Without telling him the reason,
Louisa releases Joe from their engagement.
(Summarised
from Wikipedia)
Elizabeth Visits
America, Elinor Glyn, published 1909, read 18 July 1918
A sequel to
Glyn’s 1900 novel The Visits of Elizabeth.
The first book takes the form of the letters Elizabeth sends to her
invalid mother in England whilst she travels abroad going to the grand parties
of titled relatives. Elizabeth Visits
America takes the same format except that Elizabeth is visiting America with
friends and they want to see the real place, ‘the American Americans we don’t
meet at home’.
(Summarised from
the Edwardian Promenade blog review)
This is an
example of what Newcombe and Winston say in their Library Journal article that oftentimes, they might have the sequel to a book without a copy of
the original.
A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde, play first
performed 1893, first printed 1894, read 18 July 1918
Oscar Wilde's audacious
drama of social scandal centres around the revelation of Mrs Arbuthnot's
long-concealed secret. A house party is in full swing at Lady Hunstanton's
country home, when it is announced that Gerald Arbuthnot has been appointed
secretary to the sophisticated, witty Lord Illingworth. Gerald's mother stands
in the way of his appointment, but fears to tellOscar Wilde's [play is an] audacious drama of social scandal centres on the
revelation of Mrs Arbuthnot's long-concealed secret. A house party is in full
swing at Lady Hunstanton's country home, when it is announced that Gerald
Arbuthnot has been appointed secretary to the sophisticated, witty Lord
Illingworth. Gerald's mother stands in the way of his appointment, but fears to
tell him why, for who will believe Lord Illingworth to be a man of no
importance?
(Synospsis
from Penguin books)
