What do you think?
Rate this book
Abandoned
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
- GenresAudiobook
316 pages, Hardcover
Published September 10, 2010
8 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
William Clark Russell
452 books17 followersWilliam Clark Russell was a popular American writer of nautical novels and horror stories.
Russell gained his experience of sea life during eight years' service as a sailor. Then he was a journalist on the staff of the Daily Chronicle before he took to writing his many novels, only a few of which are listed here.
As a testament to the popularity of Russell's novels in his day, one can read about him at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Five Orange Pips," where Doctor Watson is shown 'deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories'.
According to modern scholar John Sutherland, The Wreck of the Grosvenor (1877) was "the most popular mid-Victorian melodrama of adventure and heroism at sea."[1] It remained popular and widely read in illustrated editions well into the first half of the 20th century.[2] It was Russell best selling and most well known novel.[2] Russell noted in a preface, the novel 'found its first and best welcome in the United States.'[1]
William Clark Russell was the son of composer Henry Russell, the brother of impresario Henry Russell, and the half brother of conductor Landon Ronald. His horror work has similarities to the nautical horror stories of William Hope Hodgson.
Russell gained his experience of sea life during eight years' service as a sailor. Then he was a journalist on the staff of the Daily Chronicle before he took to writing his many novels, only a few of which are listed here.
As a testament to the popularity of Russell's novels in his day, one can read about him at the beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Five Orange Pips," where Doctor Watson is shown 'deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea stories'.
According to modern scholar John Sutherland, The Wreck of the Grosvenor (1877) was "the most popular mid-Victorian melodrama of adventure and heroism at sea."[1] It remained popular and widely read in illustrated editions well into the first half of the 20th century.[2] It was Russell best selling and most well known novel.[2] Russell noted in a preface, the novel 'found its first and best welcome in the United States.'[1]
William Clark Russell was the son of composer Henry Russell, the brother of impresario Henry Russell, and the half brother of conductor Landon Ronald. His horror work has similarities to the nautical horror stories of William Hope Hodgson.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 25, 2014
I also listened to the free audiobook because I have a very long commute to and from class. There was one reader in particular that absolutely grated my nerves and almost pushed me to leave the book unfinished. She put emphasis on the wrong parts of the sentences and it was just incredibly annoying so I'm sure I lost a lot of information when she read.
Overall I wasn't pleased with the story, Lucretia was pampered and allowed to be a stubborn crybaby just because everyone thought she was pretty. At first I felt bad for Reynolds but he also allowed Lucretia to be a spoiled brat of a woman so i guess they belonged together. Waste of time to listen to in my opinion. I suffered through that woman's horrible reading of two to three chapters for nothing.
Overall I wasn't pleased with the story, Lucretia was pampered and allowed to be a stubborn crybaby just because everyone thought she was pretty. At first I felt bad for Reynolds but he also allowed Lucretia to be a spoiled brat of a woman so i guess they belonged together. Waste of time to listen to in my opinion. I suffered through that woman's horrible reading of two to three chapters for nothing.
December 24, 2012
I would have given it a lot more points if either I had read it myself or if the audio version had one GOOD reader instead of several mediocre ones. The story itself was decent, though being a classic it was very wordy and a little over descriptive. So.. 2 stars it gets.
July 3, 2012
Listened to this via librivox.com. Great book but slightly wordy. Had multiple readers, would have been better with only one reader.
July 27, 2014
This is the first W. Clark Russell novel I've read, and I'm ready to read more! I'm sure this story is slow moving to some, but I enjoy the leisurely pace, as I listen to most of my books as audiobooks, and therefore can keep my hands busy with laundry, dishes, and pick-up, without missing out on any of the plot lines.
The premise of this book is that a beautiful young bride walks out of the church after the wedding ceremony and declares she will never live with her husband, a handsome young sea captain. She gives no explanation as to why, even though she had been very loving before the marriage. She locks herself in her bedroom in her mother's home, and refuses to see or speak to her husband.
The husband leaves for his ship, without his honeymoon partner, . He continues to achingly wonder why his wife changed so drastically in her attitude toward him so suddenly.
Eventually the ship catches on fire, and it is fanned into a blast furnace by a hurricane force windstorm at sea. The ship goes down and everyone but the captain (who remained with the ship til the end) is lost at sea. He gets thrown up on a deserted little island where he survives for almost two years.
His physical and psychological struggles are intriguing.
The big picture of the ending was satisfying to me, but it was too sudden, with a couple of major questions not totally answered for me. Still a great read.
The premise of this book is that a beautiful young bride walks out of the church after the wedding ceremony and declares she will never live with her husband, a handsome young sea captain. She gives no explanation as to why, even though she had been very loving before the marriage. She locks herself in her bedroom in her mother's home, and refuses to see or speak to her husband.
The husband leaves for his ship, without his honeymoon partner, . He continues to achingly wonder why his wife changed so drastically in her attitude toward him so suddenly.
Eventually the ship catches on fire, and it is fanned into a blast furnace by a hurricane force windstorm at sea. The ship goes down and everyone but the captain (who remained with the ship til the end) is lost at sea. He gets thrown up on a deserted little island where he survives for almost two years.
His physical and psychological struggles are intriguing.
The big picture of the ending was satisfying to me, but it was too sudden, with a couple of major questions not totally answered for me. Still a great read.
September 13, 2013
This was a free audio book of an old classic involving romance and shipwreck, well told, with much detail on sailing and travel in the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the conversation between sailors reflected much thought given to the obvious truth in creation with purpose and design as opposed to chance or evolution. A really good story... Not read so well, but a free edition, so I won't complain on that.
June 20, 2014
Would have been a 5-star had we ever gotten an explanation for certain events in the beginning of the book.
November 8, 2023
William Clark Russell is known primarily for his sea stories, not always rattling thrillers like his contemporary Frederick Marryat, but sea adventures in which mystery and matrimony play a large part. This book is not easily available in print or in digital format. You can download it on Internet Archive.com, but otherwise it's simpler just to listen to it.
The plot is weird, to say the least. A girl takes against her husband during the wedding ceremony itself, but it's clear that she has been meditating the act for some time before that. The groom is a senior captain in the Merchant Navy. There is not a stain on his moral character, but his career prospects are tarnished because a ship under his command had the bad luck to collide with another ship. On his wedding day, he is again in independent command of another ship, the Flying Spur. Why the bride rejects him after the wedding ceremony and not before is a mystery that remains unsolved. Why she rejects him at all is known only to herself.
After a few attempts at reconciliation, including seeking legal advice, in which the Captain is told that "the restitution of a husband's conjugal rights'' can only be claimed after the consummation of the marriage – and these are non existent in the present case, but when all such attempts end in failure, the Captain literally shanghaies his wife aboard the Flying Spur. Tantrums and lock-ins and lockouts follow, embarrassing the Captain before his crew. Finally, an embittered man, he lets her go free.
What follows concerns the Captain over the next two years, involving a fire at sea and a shipwreck, so that in every way he is disfigured and alone.
While the story is dramatic and catches your immediate interest, the characters are not well developed, except for Captain Reynolds himself. His wife - Lucretia - comes across as a petulant, self-willed and selfish woman, a tease. His deputy is a loyal friend, but that's the rôle, not his character. Lucretia's mother and all the others are fillers. The language itself is a seaman's tongue, and the images it evokes on land or at sea are filled with a sailor's knowledge of the sea, sailing and seacraft.
The plot is weird, to say the least. A girl takes against her husband during the wedding ceremony itself, but it's clear that she has been meditating the act for some time before that. The groom is a senior captain in the Merchant Navy. There is not a stain on his moral character, but his career prospects are tarnished because a ship under his command had the bad luck to collide with another ship. On his wedding day, he is again in independent command of another ship, the Flying Spur. Why the bride rejects him after the wedding ceremony and not before is a mystery that remains unsolved. Why she rejects him at all is known only to herself.
After a few attempts at reconciliation, including seeking legal advice, in which the Captain is told that "the restitution of a husband's conjugal rights'' can only be claimed after the consummation of the marriage – and these are non existent in the present case, but when all such attempts end in failure, the Captain literally shanghaies his wife aboard the Flying Spur. Tantrums and lock-ins and lockouts follow, embarrassing the Captain before his crew. Finally, an embittered man, he lets her go free.
What follows concerns the Captain over the next two years, involving a fire at sea and a shipwreck, so that in every way he is disfigured and alone.
While the story is dramatic and catches your immediate interest, the characters are not well developed, except for Captain Reynolds himself. His wife - Lucretia - comes across as a petulant, self-willed and selfish woman, a tease. His deputy is a loyal friend, but that's the rôle, not his character. Lucretia's mother and all the others are fillers. The language itself is a seaman's tongue, and the images it evokes on land or at sea are filled with a sailor's knowledge of the sea, sailing and seacraft.
April 6, 2024
La storia è avviata e conclusa dalla storia di un matrimonio, stroncato sul nascere da un attacco sessuofobico della sposa: certo, né l'autore, né tantomeno la protagonista sono autorizzati dal loro contesto storico ad avvalersi di questo aggettivo, e parlano, secondo i punti di vista, di una malata o nobile mania di castità, ma il concetto è sostanzialmente lo stesso, e si intravede in distanza l'influenza dei primi studi di psicanalisi.
Ma in realtà (come, credo, nella maggior parte dei romanzi di Russell) a farla da padrone è il mare, con tutto il corredo di naufragi, isole deserte e tesori nascosti, che permettono al protagonista di tornare in patria provato nel fisico ma ricco e di riallacciare (dopo otto anni di assenza! Ma con quale nonchalance trattavano il passar del tempo questi scrittori ottocenteschi...) con la sua sposa di un giorno l'interrotta storia d'amore.
Il libro è ben scritto, e anche se il lettore frettoloso potrebbe trovare lunghe e noiose le descrizioni e le riflessioni filosofiche che lo percorrono, son proprio queste caratteristiche, a mio parere, a renderlo un'opera di notevole valore.
Ma in realtà (come, credo, nella maggior parte dei romanzi di Russell) a farla da padrone è il mare, con tutto il corredo di naufragi, isole deserte e tesori nascosti, che permettono al protagonista di tornare in patria provato nel fisico ma ricco e di riallacciare (dopo otto anni di assenza! Ma con quale nonchalance trattavano il passar del tempo questi scrittori ottocenteschi...) con la sua sposa di un giorno l'interrotta storia d'amore.
Il libro è ben scritto, e anche se il lettore frettoloso potrebbe trovare lunghe e noiose le descrizioni e le riflessioni filosofiche che lo percorrono, son proprio queste caratteristiche, a mio parere, a renderlo un'opera di notevole valore.
January 29, 2016
I listened to this as an audiobook. I had a difficult time getting through it. Lovely Lucretia looks forward to her marriage to Captain Frank Reynolds. Immediately after the wedding ceremony she confines herself to her room and threatens to poison herself if she is required to live with her husband.
Before setting off on one of his trips, he plots to kidnap his wife by sending a message to her that he has been severely wounded and requests that she see him before he dies. She finds that he is not injured and is confined to a room but she still doesn't soften to her husband. He puts her ashore and gives her money to return to her home. His ship later catches fire and an injured Frank Reynolds seems to be the only survivor on a small island. After several months another shipwreck leaves another small group abandoned on the island. They are able to signal a passing ship and make their way home.
Believing her husband is dead, Lucretia supports herself by teaching. Frank finds her but she does not recognize him because the injuries he sustained changed his looks and he uses the name of the fellow who spent some time shipwrecked on the island with him. While a friendship develops and he finds a way to tell her his story and provide her money. As their friendship develops, she admits that she wished she had acted differently toward her husband and finds her new friend shares some of the same actions as her husband. He admits his identity.
At no time did I ever learn the reason she suddenly decides not to live with her husband after their wedding. I did not care for Lucretia. Frank seemed far to patient.
Before setting off on one of his trips, he plots to kidnap his wife by sending a message to her that he has been severely wounded and requests that she see him before he dies. She finds that he is not injured and is confined to a room but she still doesn't soften to her husband. He puts her ashore and gives her money to return to her home. His ship later catches fire and an injured Frank Reynolds seems to be the only survivor on a small island. After several months another shipwreck leaves another small group abandoned on the island. They are able to signal a passing ship and make their way home.
Believing her husband is dead, Lucretia supports herself by teaching. Frank finds her but she does not recognize him because the injuries he sustained changed his looks and he uses the name of the fellow who spent some time shipwrecked on the island with him. While a friendship develops and he finds a way to tell her his story and provide her money. As their friendship develops, she admits that she wished she had acted differently toward her husband and finds her new friend shares some of the same actions as her husband. He admits his identity.
At no time did I ever learn the reason she suddenly decides not to live with her husband after their wedding. I did not care for Lucretia. Frank seemed far to patient.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2013
Absence makes the heart grow fonder is how the adage goes but some could argue that a more apt axiom would be absence makes the heart grow fonder for somebody else. Whichever you deem correct, it could be applied to this delightfully refreshing book by William Clark Russell. Captain Francis (Frank) Reynolds is a merchant seaman. Rugged and handsome, he is the perfect portrait of the maritime hero that often appears in contemporary romance novels. Frank is engaged to a beautiful girl (how could it be anything else?). The couple is married and upon the conclusion of the holy nuptials the bride abruptly shuns her spouse. She refuses to consummate the marriage and barely speaks to her husband. Franks new command, the Flying Spur, is awaiting their arrival before embarking on a long voyage to South America, He has to resort to deception to get her aboard his ship but her demure doesn’t change and she insists on staying in her own cabin and even refusing to dine with him. Confusion, love, shame and desperation leads him to pull into a southern English port and send his bride back to her mother. This sets the stage for a story of high seas adventure, castaways, friendship, death and deceit. This tale has everything one could desire in a book and then adds the confusing and often irrational thinking of a woman to add just a little more spice. I highly recommend this novel to everyone that loves a great adventure yarn.
Read
January 11, 2011I read one of his other books "The Frozen Pirate" which I found surprisingly good and so far as I start this one off I am enjoying myself.
The plot involves a women who marries a sea captain and immediately after they are married she refuses to live with him - we know not why. His efforts to get through to the wife he loves and who had loved him seems more like a plot of a romance novel, not an adventure - but this one is certainly an adventure with interesting turns.
The plot involves a women who marries a sea captain and immediately after they are married she refuses to live with him - we know not why. His efforts to get through to the wife he loves and who had loved him seems more like a plot of a romance novel, not an adventure - but this one is certainly an adventure with interesting turns.
April 2, 2014
Romance, shipwrecks, impatient sailors, lots of money, reunion... Abandoned was a truly interesting read, the plot was rather well done with the reader being slightly confused as to the true nature of the related state of affairs, the actual 'abandoned' in the title can be reflected in more than one way and this added to my interest...
March 22, 2013
Much detail- almost too much. I listened to it and wished I had read it as the audio (which was free) was read by less than good readers. Spoiler alert: Reynolds really pines over his "wife" a bit too much. Overall a dull read.
October 9, 2012
Awesome, classic!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews