Exton Manor,

by Archibald Marshall

Excerpt from Exton Manor
Every other English reviewer who has written about "Exton Manor" has mentioned the name of Anthony Trollope, and, while I have no wish to come before American readers hanging on to the coat tails of a great man, and so gain a notice to which my own performance does not entitle me, I may yet gratefully admit my indebtedness to Trollope, and acknowledge myself a follower of his method, at least in "Exton Manor."
In one respect it is not only Trollope whom I have tried to follow, but the whole body of English novelists of his date, who introduced you to a large number of people, and left you with the feeling that you knew them all intimately, and would have found yourself welcome in their society. That particular note of intimacy seems to be lacking in the fiction of the present day, and I should like to have it back.
What Trollope did, and he was neither the first nor the greatest to do it, was to make up his groups from the people whose lives are lived chiefly in the English country, in the Cathedral or country town, in the Hall, the parsonage, and the "small house," which is perhaps more representative of English tastes and habits than any other.
Life in such a community as is depicted in "Exton Manor" is just as typical of English social habits as it was in Trollope's day. The tendency of those who have hitherto worked on the land to drift into the towns is not shared by the more leisured classes. Their tendency is all the other way - to forsake the towns for the country, - and improved methods of communication keep them more in touch with the world than they would have been fifty years ago.
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506 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

Arthur Hammond Marshall (6 September 1866 – 29 September 1934), better known by his pen name Archibald Marshall, was an English author, publisher and journalist whose novels were particularly popular in the United States. He published over 50 books and was recognized as a realist in his writing style, and was considered by some as a successor to Anthony Trollope. Educated at Cambridge University, he was later (in 1921) made an honorary Doctor of Letters by Yale University. He travelled widely and made numerous notable acquaintances.