A Marked Man: Some Episodes in His Life

by Ada Cambridge

First published in 1890, A Marked Man is considered to be the finest novel in Ada Cambridge’s distinguished writing career. It concerns two generations of the Delavel family, risen from unhappy beginnings to colonial prosperity. In the marriage of Richard and Annie we find love destroyed through petty materialism, and its complement in the near-adulterous relationship between Richard and the gentle Constance. The sober union of Richard and Annie’s daughter Sue with the radical Noel Rutledge is based on lessons learnt from the mistakes of the elders.

It is a fine tale which explores with subtlety the tensions between radicalism and convention in the context fo late nineteenth century England and Australia.

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1890

About the author

Ada Cambridge (21 November 1844 – 19 July 1926), later known as Ada Cross, was an English-born Australian writer.
Overall she wrote more than twenty-five works of fiction, three volumes of poetry and two autobiographical works.[1] Many of her novels were serialised in Australian newspapers, and were never published in book form.
While she was known to friends and family by her married name, Ada Cross, she was known to her newspaper readers as A.C.. Later in her career she reverted to her maiden name, Ada Cambridge, and it is thus by this name that she is known.

Ada Cambridge married the Rev. George Cross in 1870 and immediately sailed for Australia. They lived in various towns in Victoria but finally settled in Melbourne. When her husband wanted to return to England, Ada reluctantly followed him and lived in England again from 1912 to 1917. Upon her husband's death in 1917 she returned to Australia where she remained for the rest of her life.

Selected Bibliography
* Hymns on the Litany (1865)
* Hymns on the Holy Communion (1866)
* The Manor House: and Other Poems (1875)
* My Guardian (Novel, 1877)
* In Two Years' Time (Novel, 1879)
* A Mere Chance (Novel, 1882)
* Unspoken Thoughts (Novel, 1887)
* A Woman's Friendship (Serialised in the Age, 1889; first published in book form in 1988)
* A Marked Man (Novel, 1890)
* The Three Miss Kings (Novel, 1891)
* Not All in Vain (Novel, 1892)
* A Little Minx (Novel, 1893)
* A Marriage Ceremony (Novel, 1894),
* Fidelis (Novel, 1895)
* A Humble Enterprise (Novel, 1896),
* At Midnight: and Other Stories (1897)
* Materfamilias (Novel, 1898),
* Path and Goal (Novel, 1900)
* The Devastators (Novel, 1901)
* Thirty Years in Australia (Memoir, 1903)
* Sisters (Novel, 1904)
* A Platonic Friendship (Novel, 1905)
* A Happy Marriage (Novel, 1906)
* The Eternal Feminine (Novel, 1907)
* The Retrospect (Memoir, 1912)
* The Hand in the Dark: and Other Poems (1913)
* The Making of Rachel Rowe (Novel, 1914)