A Wonderful Discovery!

Mr. Tommy Dove and Other Stories
1893

Old Chester Tales
by Margaret Deland
1898

Several years ago I read John Ward, Preacher by Margaret Deland and loved it. For some reason - probably because Deland's books were not accessible to me at the time - I did not read anything else by this author. Last night, though, I downloaded Old Chester Tales and have begun reading it this morning with my breakfast. What a wonderful discovery! In the introduction to the Google Books edition available through the links here, Vida Scudder of Wellesley College compares Deland to Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell; and Deland's fictional Old Chester to Cranford.

This volume is the second of the chronicles of Old Chester, and I am anticipating a wonderful visit there. The first volume of the series is Mr. Tommy Dove and Other Stories, published in 1893.

I will say before I go that John Ward, Preacher has a somber tone, and I understand from what I have read about some of Deland's other novels that the somber tone prevails in some of them. I am expecting, however, to find an American version of Cranford in Margaret Deland's Old Chester, Pennsylvania.

Later: I have just finished reading the first story in Mr. Tommy Dove, and oh, how I loved it. It reminds me far more of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford than of Jane Austen, but of course this is just the first story of the series. I highly recommend it.

Bookmark - The Making of a Marchioness

The Making of a Marchioness
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Old Lady Mary - epub download

Old Lady Mary by Margaret Oliphane is now available as an epub download via the link to the right.

Howard's End is on the Landing

Howard's End is on the Landing
by Susan Hill

This book arrived in today's mail, and I am enchanted. I have read mixed reviews, but for me this book is a delight. I too can define my life by books I have read, when and where I have read them.

Through a Glass Darkly

Through the Looking Glass
by J.D. Beresford
From The Best British Short Stories of 1922, page 20.

Two Rachel Deanes, one an elderly woman and the other her much younger niece, share more than just the same name. Their mannerisms, handwriting and personalities are almost identical. The elder sees her younger self in her niece. Standing in front of a mirror, it is evident that the reflection she sees is not of herself as she is today but a reflection of her younger self, very like her niece. The younger Rachel also stands before a mirror, but what she sees is what she will become, old and decrepit like her aunt. The mirrors play a prominent role in this story, which would have made a wonderful prelude to a story of haunting.

The story can be read or downloaded from Google Books by clicking on the link in the story's title above.

Washington as a Diplomatic Post in European Eyes

A Washington Winter
by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren
1883

"…Washington is rated as at the foot of the diplomatic ladder by European governments. Goslings are sent here to learn to quack and try their wings, and crude tyros to make a beginning."

Spectacles

A Washington Winter
by Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren
1883

"Coming from Massachusetts, of course he wore spectacles…"