Author: WOOD (Mrs. Henry):
Title: East Lynne. Copyright Edition.
Description: Leipzig Bernhard Tauchnitz 1861 [actually 1863], 3 volumes. 8vo, 150 x 108 mms., pp. [iv], 342 [345 colophon, 346 blank]; [vi], 330 [331 colophon, 332 blank]; [iv], 323 [324 colophon], half buckram, gilt spines,marbled boards. A very good set, with the autograph "E. S. Spices" (I thnk) on teh top margin of the front past-down end-paper of each volume, and "Edith Saumerly" on the top margin of the series title-page. Mrs. Henry Wood (née Price [no relation], 1814–1887) was the author of a number of novels, but this one, designated a "sensation novel" was a best seller, frequently reprinted, made into movies, etc. It was was originally serialised in The New Monthly Magazine between January 1860 and September 1861, being issued as a three-volume novel on 19 September 1861. A contemporary reviewer, Samuel Lucas, in The Times for 25 January 1862, despite some misgivings about the absurd plot, ended his review, asserting that the novel satisfies "the indispensable requirement which is the rude test of the merits of any work of fiction … East Lynne is found by all its readers to be highly entertaining." The blogger, Mad Bibliophile, says of it, "I quite enjoyed this book, being a huge fan of Sensation fiction. This, along with Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret makes up the core Sensation trilogy. Many of the plot lines were contrived but I quite enjoyed it. It's like a Victorian soap opera. Isabel remained an elusive character though and while I didn't despise her, I also didn't quite warm to her although I did pity her and her tragic circumstances. Unlike other adulteresses in many other Victorian fiction, Isabel is not painted as a 'scarlet woman' but merely a woman who made one mistake that ultimately cost her everything." Todd [574/75/76].

Keywords: fiction women literature


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