The Devil's Garden

by W.B. Maxwell

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Genres: Fiction

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1914

About the author

William Babington Maxwell (1866–1938) was a British novelist. Born on June 4, 1866, he was the third surviving child and second eldest son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

Though nearly 50 years old at the outbreak of the First World War, he was accepted as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and served in France until 1917.

He wrote The Last Man In, a drama, produced 14 March 1910, at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow, by the Scottish Repertory Company; and, with George Paston (i. e., Emily Morse Symonds), a farce, The Naked Truth, which was first played at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in April, 1910, and in which Charles Hawtrey played Bernard Darrell.

Reviews

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly I wasn't expecting such a frank book about sexual abuse to be published - and popular - in 1914. (And yes, it was sexual abuse. Don't lie to me or to yourself.) I started out siding with some of the characters in the story but then they would go do something stupid and make me lose all respect for them. The reason I can't give this novel three stars is because right in the middle is a long stretch through the Valley of Dullness that drags the whole thing down.

[Mbuye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another early twentieth century novelist almost forgotten today, William Babington Maxwell’s books carry a psychological understanding of the motives and emotions that drive human relationships. In ‘The Devil's Garden,’ he also draws a picture of near-feudal customs still obtaining in rural England in the early part of the last century - a kind of droit du seigneur side by side with speeding cars, or runaway horses going neck and neck with the railways and modern post-offices. Running through it all are the explicit class distinctions that distinguish the novels from the first page, the privileged set that influence and at times overpower the lives and actions of the labourers and the merchants, and even the yeomanry. And more darkly, the explicitly sexual favours given in return for favours asked.

‘The Devil's Garden' is a study of the cyclical nature of crime and sexual abuse. There is, at the end, a transparent attempt at redemption, but on the whole ‘The Devil's Garden’ is a brutal assault on the senses. William Dale, the protagonist, is the person most psychologically interesting; our sympathies are drawn to him even as we recoil from him. As he tries to justify himself: ‘What was the plain English of the case so far as she was concerned? Unbidden, innumerable circumstances stored from local knowledge offered themselves as guides for argument. Take any girl of that class—well, what are her chances? Why, you are lucky if you keep 'em straight until the time comes to send 'em out into domestic service; their parents scarcely expect it, barely seem to desire it. But after that time, when they get among strangers and there's nobody with an eye on them, they fall as victims—if you choose to call it so—to the first marauder—to the young master, the nephew home for his Christmas holidays, or the man who comes to tune the piano. If not himself, it would be somebody else.’

The other principals are equally well etched, though somewhat unidimensional. As for the style, it is best described as typical of the sensational novel. However, the hard-hitting, unflinching realism in the language must have shocked a readership used to pink roses and languorous looks from below lashes.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about sexual abuse and the long-lasting issues that come from it. A rather honest story with characters that really do grow as they age. The story does drag on at times and could easily have been 100 pages shorter but perhaps that was more the style of the time it was written.

[daisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is defiently NOT a light read! That is for sure! And in some places it is very long and overextended. I think the concept is interesting just needs to be rewritten properly though

[Arthur Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out engagingly, then went on for 300 pages or so before I realized where it was headed. Well-written and never dull, but it never grabbed me.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Dale is a loutish Dogberry civilised somewhat by his gentle wife Mavis. On being suspended from his job as village postmaster after an affray he has to go to London to explain himself to the big knobs.

Dale's self-importance is hilarious. As the mailbags go out without his supervision he likens himself to 'a director who might not even assist, a master superseded, a general under arrest in the midst of his army.'

The local landowner intercedes on his behalf, only for Dale to discover that the man had corrupted his wife when she was a young domestic servant at his country manor, and that she had debased herself before him again for her husband's sake.

The landowner is killed after an 'accident' while out on his horse. A dilatory narrative bravely and unexpectedly turned full circle when the avenger, now a respectable farmer, himself became ensnared by 'impure unworthy impermissible desires.'

Another reviewer on this site has bemoaned the excessive length of this novel, and that's a fair criticism. It does have a confirmed destination in mind, but it takes a long time to get there, fully exploring every stop along the way.

Personally I was fine with that. I really liked the characters, despite the mistakes they made and some questionable behaviour. Maxwell clearly liked them too, allowing them every opportunity to develop, and eventually atone.

[Usfromdk · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the book Performing Flea, by P. G. Wodehouse, the great author notes both that Maxwell was "one of my favourite authors" (p. 63), and he also observes in the book that: "as a rule I think most novels would be better, if shorter" (page 89).

I include the two above observations in this review because the former observation was the main reason why I started reading the book in the first place, and the latter observation was one that repeatedly came back to me as I was reading it. Maxwell's novel would in my opinion have benefited greatly from being at least 100 pages shorter than it is. It's too long, and I was very close to throwing it away along the way for this reason. He should have cut more stuff, it's a simple as that. There should have been fewer words spilled about Will's religious conversion, what the landscape looked like on any given day or what the weather was like, the sort of clothes people wore, the trip to the beach was in my opinion unnecessary, and so on and so forth. Maxwell takes too long to get to the point, and I almost gave up on the book because of it.

Not a bad book as such, but it tested my patience more than once, and given different circumstances I might well not have finished it.

[Samantha Glasser]

This novel was adapted to the screen in 1920.

Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14605/...