The New Magdalen by Wilkie Collins

Mercy Merrick is living a difficult life on the streets, but when she meets the young and charismatic clergyman Julian Gray, she desires to leave this life behind and start afresh. She packs her things and volunteers as a nurse in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. It is, however, very difficult to leave your life behind, and even harder to start a new life in a society so dependent on social connections. So when she sees that Grace Roseberry is killed by a shell, Mercy assumes Grace’s identity and social position.

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Felix Holt, The Radical by George Eliot

Harold Transome is a landowner who goes against his family’s political tradition (much to his mother’s distress), while Felix Holt is a sincere radical. The setting of the book, the 1832 parliament election, is used to discuss the social problems of that time. A secondary plot involves Esther Leon, the stepdaughter of a minister who is the real heiress to the Transome estate, with whom both Harold Transome and Felix Holt fall in love. Esther loves poor Felix Holt, but would she choose a comfortable life with Harold Transome?

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Mollie's Prince by Rosa Nouchette Carey

Mr. Ward is a failing artist. His two daughters, Mollie and Waveney, are very close. However when the financial situation becomes insufferable, and Waveney has to enter service, the sisters have to part for the first time. The book tells both stories in a realistic and engaging way. It gives us, the readers, insight into every aspect of the sisters’ lives from managing a household to going out with friends to treating servants and, of course, their love for each other.

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Persuasion by Jane Austen

In Persuasion, her last novel, Austen explores the theme of postponed but enduring love, delayed by class boundaries and excessive pride. Eight years ago, Anne Elliot fell in love with a poor but ambitious young naval officer, Frederick Wentworth. The Elliots were dissatisfied with Anne’s choice, feeling he was not distinguished enough for their family, and her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne’s deceased mother, persuaded her to break off the match. Now 27 and considered a spinster, Anne re-encounters her former fiance, now a captain, as he courts her spirited young neighbor, Louisa Musgrove. The self-interested machinations of Anne’s older sister Elizabeth, of Elizabeth’s friend Mrs. Clay, and of Anne’s father’s heir, William Elliot, constitute an important subplot.

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Middlemarch by George Eliot

The book examines the role of education in the lives of the characters and how such education and study has affected the characters. Rosamond Vincy’s finishing school education is a foil to Dorothea Brooke’s religiously-motivated quest for knowledge. Rosamond initially admires Lydgate for his exotic education, and his intellect. A similar dynamic is present in Dorothea and Casaubon’s relationship, with Dorothea revering her new husband’s intellect and eloquence. In both cases, however, the young wives’ expectations of their husbands intellects are not reflected in reality.

Despite extreme erudition, Mr. Casaubon is afraid to publish because he believes that he must write a work that is utterly above criticism. In contrast, Lydgate at times arrogantly flaunts his knowledge, making enemies with his fellow physicians. He regards the residents of Middlemarch with a certain amount of contempt stemming from his belief that the townspeople are backwards and uninteresting. However, his education has not included tact and politicking, skills necessary in a small town but are seen by Lydgate as below him, the brilliant doctor.

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Smoke by Ivan Turgenev

Smoke is a novel by the highly acclaimed Russian writer Ivan Turgenev that tells the gripping story of a secret love affair between a young betrothed Russian man and a young married Russian woman, while also delivering in the opening chapters the author’s criticism of Russia and Russians of the period. The story takes place largely in the German resort town of Baden-Baden.

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Love Insurance by Earl Derr Biggers

On duty with Lloyds of London in NYC, young Richard Minot is sent to the St Augustine-ish town of San Marco to ensure that a wealthy young lady, Cynthia Meyrick marry his firm’s client, Lord Harrowby. Then, in a meet-cute on a slow-moving train, Minot meets the very enticing Miss Meyrick and… reconsiders his duty.

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When Knighthood Was in Flower by Charles Major

Set during the Tudor period of English history, When Knighthood Was in Flower tells the tribulations of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England who has fallen in love with a commoner. However, for political reasons, King Henry has arranged for her to wed King Louis XII of France and demands his sister put the House of Tudor first, threatening, “You will marry France and I will give you a wedding present – Charles Brandon’s head!” (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)

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The Lovels of Arden by M. E. Braddon

The novel traces the return of a young Englishwoman from several years of schooling abroad, to find that her life will not take up where she thought it would. Clarissa Lovel faced not only an emotionally and financially bereft father, but her first glimpse at love – and that not from the best vantage point.

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Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn

Paul Verdayne, wealthy English nobleman in his early twenties is caught embracing the parson’s daughter. His parents decide to send him away to France and then Switzerland. In Switzerland, he sees a woman referred to only as “the Lady”. The Lady is older, in her thirties. After several days of exchanging lustful glances, they actually meet. She invites him to her apartment where they share a sexual relationship for three weeks. Eventually, Paul learns that the Lady is actually the queen of a Russian dependency and that her husband, the king, is abusive towards her. She disappears after the titular three weeks and Paul is upset and returns to England. Paul later finds out that the Lady has given birth to their son. With his father’s assistance, he finds out the Lady’s identity; however, before they can meet again, she is murdered by her husband. Paul is upset and spends the next five years wandering around from country to country until he decides to make preparations to meet his son. (Wikipedia)

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