- Paperback: 704 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford (10 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192804626
- ISBN-13: 978-0192804624
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 529,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
East Lynne (Oxford World's Classics)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Excellent introduction, nicely presented.
Review
Excellent introduction, nicely presented.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eat your heart out Wilkie Collins. What a fantastic book this is! I just loved every minute of it (and there were a LOT of minutes - for some reason it took me an age to read). For about three weeks I felt like I was living in the middle of a Victorian soap-opera. There was murder, betrayal, divorce, disguises and death and all this set among a backdrop of stately homes and horse-and-carriages. What's not to love?
I can't understand why this book is not better known or held in higher esteem. Hallelujah for Oxford World Classics reviving this book (with a fab cover too). I haven't read anywhere near the amount of Victorian classics that I want to yet but for me, this ranks among my favourites now. Classed as a sensational novel in the 1800's when it was written, this book was serialised in a weekly newspaper. How I would have waited with baited breath for each new edition to hit the news- stands!
The books main character is Lady Isabel Vane who lives at East Lynne (a grand stately home) with her Father. When her Father, the Earl of Mount Severn, dies and his debts are discovered Lady Isabel is proposed to by the lovely young lawyer, Archibald Carlyle (much to the heartache of one Barbara Hare who, unbeknown to Archibald, is in love with him). Lady Isabel and Archibald seem happy together and go on to have three children, but all the while Archibald is helping Barbara Hare to clear her brother's name for a murder that was committed some years ago and for which he escaped the scene of the crime and hasn't been seen since. With all the clandestine meetings between Archibald and Barbara, Lady Isabel is overcome by jealousy and in the heat of the moment abandons her entire family for a man of very dubious character. I don't want to say too much else for fear of spoiling the book for anyone, but needless to say that this is most definitely not the last we see of Lady Isabel (or the "cad" she ran off with).
I can honestly say that, for me, there was not a dull moment in this book. It is very accessible and easy to read, even for those who find Victorian literature hard going, and long though the book was, I was sad when I came to the end.
I think I can honestly say that the sensational novels of the Victorian era are becoming my favourites, having also loved Lady Audley's Secret (Mary Elizabeth Braddon) and The Woman In White (Wilkie Collins). I love the dramatic story-lines and the fact that you can almost hear the swish of the stage curtain at the end of a chapter and the "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN"!!!
Fabulous book. Highly recommended!
I can't understand why this book is not better known or held in higher esteem. Hallelujah for Oxford World Classics reviving this book (with a fab cover too). I haven't read anywhere near the amount of Victorian classics that I want to yet but for me, this ranks among my favourites now. Classed as a sensational novel in the 1800's when it was written, this book was serialised in a weekly newspaper. How I would have waited with baited breath for each new edition to hit the news- stands!
The books main character is Lady Isabel Vane who lives at East Lynne (a grand stately home) with her Father. When her Father, the Earl of Mount Severn, dies and his debts are discovered Lady Isabel is proposed to by the lovely young lawyer, Archibald Carlyle (much to the heartache of one Barbara Hare who, unbeknown to Archibald, is in love with him). Lady Isabel and Archibald seem happy together and go on to have three children, but all the while Archibald is helping Barbara Hare to clear her brother's name for a murder that was committed some years ago and for which he escaped the scene of the crime and hasn't been seen since. With all the clandestine meetings between Archibald and Barbara, Lady Isabel is overcome by jealousy and in the heat of the moment abandons her entire family for a man of very dubious character. I don't want to say too much else for fear of spoiling the book for anyone, but needless to say that this is most definitely not the last we see of Lady Isabel (or the "cad" she ran off with).
I can honestly say that, for me, there was not a dull moment in this book. It is very accessible and easy to read, even for those who find Victorian literature hard going, and long though the book was, I was sad when I came to the end.
I think I can honestly say that the sensational novels of the Victorian era are becoming my favourites, having also loved Lady Audley's Secret (Mary Elizabeth Braddon) and The Woman In White (Wilkie Collins). I love the dramatic story-lines and the fact that you can almost hear the swish of the stage curtain at the end of a chapter and the "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN"!!!
Fabulous book. Highly recommended!
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
For incident, drama, passion and intrigue 'East Lynne' makes 'The Woman in White' look like an exercise in quiet, dreary Sunday-afternoon restraint; and while the immortal line "Dead, and never called me mother!" is sadly absent (it comes from a stage adaptation rather than from the novel itself) the quotation does give an accurate taste of what the reader can expect.
The plot is quite straight forward: the lovely but poor Lady Isabel marries Archibald Carlyle, the local lawyer and all-round decent chap. Unfortunately she then finds herself eaten-up by jealousy as her husband begins to spend more and more time with the neighbourhood beauty Barbara Hare. Running away with the local charming cad, Francis Levison, Lady Isabel finds herself separated from her children and suddenly stuck with a boorish, brute of a man. Later however, as the devious hand of fate deals her a very peculiar hand indeed, she finds herself heavily disguised and back with her former husband as the governess to his (and of course to her own) children. As a word to describe the plot "implausible" doesn't do it justice but Ellen Wood carries the whole thing off with such style and panache that the 600 pages of the tale rattle along quite beautifully. She was, on the basis of this novel at least, an absolute natural when it came to telling a story and telling it well. The characters are all interesting and have their own peculiar traits: Carlyle's sister, Corny, for example is a shrieking harridan of fiscal prudence, while Justice Hare is a model of pompous bombast and his daughter - the very lovely Barbara - is the epitome of an innocent girl seething inwardly as unrequited love gnaws away at her soul. You care about the people Wood writes about and, aside from the oily Francis Levison, there isn't a character in the book who doesn't deserve some of the reader's sympathy and compassion.
Like all of Victorian sensation fiction there are secrets aplenty just waiting to be revealed at the most inconvenient moments and more overheard and misinterpreted conversations than you can shake a very large stick at, but the improbabilities of the plot never get in the way of what is a good old-fashioned rattling piece of story-telling. It's over the top, full of heaving bodices, tearful confessions and more drama than a novel should, by rights, be able to contain within its flimsy covers, but it is wonderful. Read it and, by turns, weep, laugh but most of all enjoy.
The plot is quite straight forward: the lovely but poor Lady Isabel marries Archibald Carlyle, the local lawyer and all-round decent chap. Unfortunately she then finds herself eaten-up by jealousy as her husband begins to spend more and more time with the neighbourhood beauty Barbara Hare. Running away with the local charming cad, Francis Levison, Lady Isabel finds herself separated from her children and suddenly stuck with a boorish, brute of a man. Later however, as the devious hand of fate deals her a very peculiar hand indeed, she finds herself heavily disguised and back with her former husband as the governess to his (and of course to her own) children. As a word to describe the plot "implausible" doesn't do it justice but Ellen Wood carries the whole thing off with such style and panache that the 600 pages of the tale rattle along quite beautifully. She was, on the basis of this novel at least, an absolute natural when it came to telling a story and telling it well. The characters are all interesting and have their own peculiar traits: Carlyle's sister, Corny, for example is a shrieking harridan of fiscal prudence, while Justice Hare is a model of pompous bombast and his daughter - the very lovely Barbara - is the epitome of an innocent girl seething inwardly as unrequited love gnaws away at her soul. You care about the people Wood writes about and, aside from the oily Francis Levison, there isn't a character in the book who doesn't deserve some of the reader's sympathy and compassion.
Like all of Victorian sensation fiction there are secrets aplenty just waiting to be revealed at the most inconvenient moments and more overheard and misinterpreted conversations than you can shake a very large stick at, but the improbabilities of the plot never get in the way of what is a good old-fashioned rattling piece of story-telling. It's over the top, full of heaving bodices, tearful confessions and more drama than a novel should, by rights, be able to contain within its flimsy covers, but it is wonderful. Read it and, by turns, weep, laugh but most of all enjoy.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you're going to read Victorian Literature, you might as well start with this one. It's a good read and, despite its 624 pages, remarkably easy to get through.
It has all the right ingredients for any reader who enjoys a modern family saga: complex emotional relationships, disguises and secret meetings, an unsolved murder. Was Ellen Wood the Jackie Collins of her day? I would say so.
There are the moralistic bits of Victorian Christian thought, but they help to create a clear idea of how people thought then and are not as oppressive as might be expected. The theme of redemption underpins the emotional response to events in the novel. Mrs Wood creates a balanced view and, in some senses, chats to the reader rather than preaching.
Lady Isabel is a great central character, if a bit mawkish at time; following her story is very engaging. Afy Hallijohn is one of those wonderful comic and crafty creations who comes into her own in the third part of the book.
Scenery and description form a good part of the narrative and conjure up rural England and its people with a nice vividness.
There are familiar techniques of suspense which are as familiar from modern soap opera as nineteenth century melodrama. The book isn't anywhere near as sentimental as the play and it doesn't contain the lines, "Dead, dead and never called me mother!" (I thought that was a bit of a shame, but then the play only contains words approximately similar).
I heartily recommend getting into this one.
It has all the right ingredients for any reader who enjoys a modern family saga: complex emotional relationships, disguises and secret meetings, an unsolved murder. Was Ellen Wood the Jackie Collins of her day? I would say so.
There are the moralistic bits of Victorian Christian thought, but they help to create a clear idea of how people thought then and are not as oppressive as might be expected. The theme of redemption underpins the emotional response to events in the novel. Mrs Wood creates a balanced view and, in some senses, chats to the reader rather than preaching.
Lady Isabel is a great central character, if a bit mawkish at time; following her story is very engaging. Afy Hallijohn is one of those wonderful comic and crafty creations who comes into her own in the third part of the book.
Scenery and description form a good part of the narrative and conjure up rural England and its people with a nice vividness.
There are familiar techniques of suspense which are as familiar from modern soap opera as nineteenth century melodrama. The book isn't anywhere near as sentimental as the play and it doesn't contain the lines, "Dead, dead and never called me mother!" (I thought that was a bit of a shame, but then the play only contains words approximately similar).
I heartily recommend getting into this one.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
good old fashioned read. Gripping from start to finish and tears at...
Had heard about this book from my grandmother in 1960 never got round to read although my sisters did and have spoken about it over the years. Read more
Published 3 months ago by book aweek
Victorian melodrama
A delightful wedge of Victorian melodrama involving a dastardly villain, erring wife, noble wronged husband and consmptive child. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
Very good, but not as amazing as some claim
After reading the claims and comparisons to Wilkie Collins and other authors on here, I was excited to start reading this book. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Dr. G. Nicholls
Pleasantly old fashioned
When young Lady Isabel Vane loses her father, the spendthrift Lord Mount Severn, she finds herself absolutely destitute and forced to make her home with the heir to the title ,an... Read more
Published 21 months ago by H. Lacroix
truly sensational
A fabulous and sensationally good read: East Lynne is one of the finest popular novels you could ever read. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by Klaatu
Beware the Green Eyed God
The Victorian sexual tension is like a pressure cooker in this sensation novel. Lady Isabel is an insecure teenager, a vulnerable 'lady-child' from a newly impoverished aristo... Read more
Published on 17 May 2010 by Officer Dibble
East Lynne
Really absorbing read, it has everything to make a good story. Found it very hard to leave down!
Published on 9 May 2010 by R Donaldson
Possibly the mother of all Sensation Novels
East Lynne is a grand old house not to far from the village of West Lynne, you will learn to love the village and all of its wonderful (even if some are downright evil) characters. Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by Simon Savidge Reads
Superb
East Lynne is a fantastic sensation novel which is sadly underrated, I have read it numerous times and I absolutely love it. Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2009 by iloveholland
So dramatic!!!!
The style may not be that refined and the story so unrealstic but it is at same time so engrossing and dramatic : it really breaks your heart!!!
I loved it and cried...
I loved it and cried...
Published on 13 Mar 2009 by V. ANITA
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
