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Daisy Chain Series #2
The Trial
Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901), was an English novelist, known for her huge output. She was devoted to the Church of England, and much influenced by John Keble, a near neighbour and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Her novels reflected the values and concerns of Anglo-Catholicism. She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 100 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1854), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. She was also editor, for nearly forty years, of a magazine for young ladies, the Monthly Packet. Among the best known of her works are Heartsease; or, The Brother's Wife (1854), The Daisy Chain; or, Aspirations (1856), A History of Christian Names (1863, revised 1884), A Book of Golden Deeds (1864), The Dove in the Eagle's Nest (1866), Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands (1873) and Hannah More (1888).
500 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1864
6 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Mary Yonge
732 books72 followersCharlotte Mary Yonge was an English novelist, known for her huge output, now mostly out of print.
She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 160 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. Yonge was also a founder and editor for forty years of The Monthly Packet, a magazine (founded in 1851) with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls (in later years it was addressed to a somewhat wider readership).
Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More. Her History of Christian Names was described as "the first serious attempt at tackling the subject" and as the standard work on names in the preface to the first edition of Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 1944.
Her personal example and influence on her god-daughter, Alice Mary Coleridge, played a formative role in Coleridge's zeal for women's education and thus, indirectly, led to the foundation of Abbots Bromley School for Girls.
After her death, her friend, assistant and collaborator, Christabel Coleridge, published the biographical Charlotte Mary Yonge: her Life and Letters (1903).
-Wikipedia
The Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship, a website with lots of information.
See Charlotte's character page for books about her.
She began writing in 1848, and published during her long life about 160 works, chiefly novels. Her first commercial success, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853), provided the funding to enable the schooner Southern Cross to be put into service on behalf of George Selwyn. Similar charitable works were done with the profits from later novels. Yonge was also a founder and editor for forty years of The Monthly Packet, a magazine (founded in 1851) with a varied readership, but targeted at British Anglican girls (in later years it was addressed to a somewhat wider readership).
Among the best known of her works are The Heir of Redclyffe, Heartsease, and The Daisy Chain. A Book of Golden Deeds is a collection of true stories of courage and self-sacrifice. She also wrote Cameos from English History, Life of John Coleridge Patteson: Missionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands and Hannah More. Her History of Christian Names was described as "the first serious attempt at tackling the subject" and as the standard work on names in the preface to the first edition of Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 1944.
Her personal example and influence on her god-daughter, Alice Mary Coleridge, played a formative role in Coleridge's zeal for women's education and thus, indirectly, led to the foundation of Abbots Bromley School for Girls.
After her death, her friend, assistant and collaborator, Christabel Coleridge, published the biographical Charlotte Mary Yonge: her Life and Letters (1903).
-Wikipedia
The Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship, a website with lots of information.
See Charlotte's character page for books about her.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 1, 2024
The Pillars of the House still holds the top CMY spot for me, but this is definitely my second favorite of Yonge’s novels I’ve read so far. We are back with the May family but somehow I loved them more in this than in The Daisy Chain. The plot and character interaction had the energy that The Daisy Chain was lacking and combines it with the moral goodness and beauty I’ve found in all CMY’s novels. We get a second family called the Wards who play a major role in the story and Leonard Ward is one of my new favorite characters. Tom May also has an incredible story arch here and the last line is one of the sweetest I’ve ever read. I really hope we get more of both families in other CMY books. I know some of the Mays appear in Pillars, so that will be great fun to re-read Pillars now that I am acquainted with the Mays. I liked Ethel a lot more in this novel. I can see how Louisa May Alcott would have been influenced by Yonge more in this novel. All the waifs and strays want to be part of the May family, and I’m right there with them! Dr May is a gem!
December 2, 2021
This is actually the second book out of two, in the May family series and written around eight years after Yonge's The Daisy Chain. Do you need to read Daisy Chain, to enjoy this book? No, but you miss so much that connects the books and things mentioned are not truly understood only by reading the first. I read The Daisy Chain first and loved it, but found out soon after about this story, so while it was fresh in my mind I read it. Besides the Mays, this story main family is the Wards. In the Daisy Chain, Dr. Ward is a small character but in The Trial, his children are the focus. The title does give the main subject away, even though The Trial is only several chapters, its results are the focus. Dr. May, Ethel and Tom May are the main characters for their family and Henry Ward and his sisters. Faith and family brings a message of hope but with a bitter sweet ending. I had a hard time putting this book down. Also listed as the main characters above in the book's description, only Ward is one, the others are quite minor ones, in case you read Daisy Chain and were wondering.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
I wished it was a happier ending where all the Ward girls would be okay. I was happy that Tom married Ave and I was so glad of his character softening. Norman, always said Tom would amaze them, which he did at his studies, his duties, the search for the truth and in his love. Both Ave and Leonard were too proud to go the way which would have caused them trouble. Leonard was being stubborn sticking to working for his uncle and Ave for not looking into Tom's heart sooner. I thought Tom would catch the nephew with some microscope evidence but it came on him all a sudden but he was in Paris not just for studies but some check from Axworthy. He probably would not have meet fate if he had married Ave when he asked her, since she refused he was restless and came across the killer. Ella was so independent and though she cared for her relatives, hers was self centered, more liking to Henry than Leonard. When hearing her brother was not guilty, she really did not seem to care but she can live life again. Minna was the exact opposite. Interesting but not really how marriage can change a person, i.e. Mary, her husband was almost all. I so wanted Ethel to find love with Leonard, even though she was older he had lived more in life being a prisoner and if I would go further for her to marry him and help him. Also Richard deserves a wife, I would want Tom and Ave to live long. Henry was such a self centered prick. He lets his brother go to his uncle's mill, hurts Mab, finally says he will help his brother but after the verdict, cares to go away and not have his named mentioned, borrows his sister's money for schemes, after Minna dies does not look for the other sisters to go home, never cares to return home or talk of his brother, more I am sure. I also meant to say that Leonard's perseverance was quite astounding but when he talked to Dr. May and began to wonder if he did it. It was heart breaking and learning how his sister's suffered afterwards, very upsetting.
"Blanche was too entirely at home with Hector for flutterings or agitations, and was too peacefully happy for grief at the separation, which completed the destiny that she had always seen before her. She was a picture of a bride; and when she and Hector hung round the Doctor, insisting that Edinburgh should be the first place they should visit, and calling forth minute directions for their pilgrimage to the scenes of his youth, promising to come home and tell him all, no wonder he felt himself rather gaining a child than losing one. He was very bright and happy; and no one but Ethel understood how all the time there was a sensation that the present was but a strange dreamy parody of that marriage which had been the theme of earlier hopes."
Blanche and Hector marry young, 17 is her age. Hector persisted that they should marry and live at Maplewood. The scarlet fever is in the neighborhood.
"The epidemic comes and Aubrey is affected by his poor lungs. Dr. Spencer thinks the pond miasma has something to do with the scarlet fever. Daisy says with Richard and Ethel and Mary nurse at home."
Averil Ward, Leonard and Henry Ward. Dr. Ward set Dr. May's arm in Daisy Chain and took care of Margaret while Dr. May recovering. Henry Ward is a young doctor around Harry's age and did not think that the epidemic would spread. His mother her and father are dying of it, and brother is sick as well as himself.
‘What will become of them? Is there likely to be any provision for them?’ ‘Not much, I should guess. Poor Ward did as we are all tempted to do when money goes through our hands, and spent more freely than I was ever allowed to do. Costly house, garden, greenhouses — he’d better have stuck to old Axworthy’s place in Minster Street — daughter at that grand school, where she cost more than the whole half-dozen of you put together.’ ‘She was more worth it,’ said Ethel; ‘her music and drawing are first-rate. Harry was frantic about her singing last time he was at home — one evening when Mrs. Anderson abused his good-nature and got him to a tea-party — I began to be afraid of the consequences.’ ‘Pish!’ said the Doctor."
‘I do not seem to have felt anything yet,’ said Averil, passing her hands over her face. ‘I seem to be made of stone.’ ‘You have done: and that is better than feeling.’
CHAPTER III
Averil is nursing her brother, Leonard until Dr. May and Mary come. Mary helps Averil to bed but the girl worries that Leonard is in danger because both parents recently died of the fever. She feels awkward and has been sent to schools for refinement not usefulness as the May girls. The Wards lived above their means and having the parents gone will put a strain on them and their eldest son Henry. Leonard wakes and thanks the doctor, soon after he finds out the fate of his parents. He is friends with Aubrey May."
‘I thought no one complained unless to get a thing remedied.’ ‘Exactly so. That is man! And experience never shows man that woman’s growls relieve her soul, and that she dreads nothing more than their being acted on! All I wish is, that this scheme may die a natural death; but I should be miserable, and deserved to be so, if I raised a finger to hinder it. What, must you go? Rule Daisy’s lines if she writes to Meta, please.’
CHAPTER IV
Dr. May thinks Leonard needs a change in scenery to recover from his illness and grief after his parents death. He thinks Aubrey and Leonard should go to a spa location with Ethel. He talks to Henry Ward who agrees but when Ethel tells her plan to Averil and Leonard. Averil does not think much of the Mays and gives a sour light to the plan but Dr. May warns her to not put anything in his head. Henry cheers Leonard up with the plan and is happy with the two little girls coming out if the nursery to liven things up. I wonder if Ethel and Henry will start to like each other?
CHAPTER V
Dr. Spencer and Ethel take Leonard and Aubrey to a sea side resort to recover. Before Spencer leaves he tells Ethel about his love for her mother and his bowing out for her father. He regrets the time list in his resolution which made it tougher for his father in his son's travels. Ethel says she knows of his feelings and her father told her years ago. She appreciates all his kindness. Leonard is not recovering like Aubrey and is despondent. Ethel finds a bottle of tonic which her father did not prescribe but his bother Henry. She throws it away and they talk of a mother's loss which softens him up. He is left to himself which is his want and soon a little dog finds him and he seems enlivened by Mab the pup. When the owner is told about the losses of Leonard by Ethel and the dog's help of change, the owner gives the pup to him.
"You, who taught us to love our Walter Scott next to our “Christian Year,” and who gave us half-crowns for rehearsing him when other children were learning the Robin’s Petition, what think you of this poor boy Leonard knowing few of the novels and none of the poems? No wonder the taste of the day is grovelling lower and lower, when people do not begin with the pure high air of his world! To take up one of his works after any of our present school of fiction is like getting up a mountain side after a feverish drawing-room or an offensive street. If it were possible to know the right moment for a book to be really tasted — not thrust aside because crammed down — no, it would not be desirable, as I was going to say, we should only do double mischief."
There are at Coombe sea side. Ethel and the boys are enjoying looking for natural treasures and they are becoming healthier but Leonard is not looking to go home but sees this as such a happy place. The Ernestaffe's see the group and they have a nice time together. Hector likes to buy for his wife and his friends. They travel to Maplewood and see the newlyweds' home. Blanche is quite elegant but always looking to comfort her guests.
"‘Good-bye, Leonard,’ said Ethel, as the two families, after mustering strong at the station, parted at the head of Minster Street; and as she felt the quivering lingering pressure of his hand, she added with a smile, ‘Remember, any Saturday afternoon. And you will come for the books.’"
I wonder if Daisy will be Leonards, and if Ethel finds her match, maybe Henry?
"The moment’s pang was lost in the eager interchange of tidings too minute for correspondence, and in approval of the renovation of the drawing-room, which was so skilful that her first glance would have detected no alteration in the subdued tones of paper, carpet, and chintz, so complete was their loyalty to the spirit of perpetuity. Flora told no one of the pains that, among her many cares, she had spent upon those tints, not so much to gratify Ethel, as because her own wearied spirit craved the repose of home sameness, nor how she had finally sent to Paris for the paper that looked so quiet, but was so exquisitely finished, that the whole room had a new air of refinement."
Good of Flora!
"‘If I were ten years younger, this might be serious,’ meditated Ethel. ‘Happily, it is only a droll adventure for me in my old age, and I have heard say that a little raving for a grown-up woman is a wholesome sort of delusion, at his time of life. So I need not worry about it, and it is pretty and touching while it lasts, good fellow!’"
Ethel attends a cricket match which Leonard wins for the team but he is out of sorts because of the exertion, so Dr. May has him rest with Ethel. Tom has grown but also cynical which makes the Wards stay away. Ethel learns of a fight that Leonard was in to defend her honor after they guessed his admiration. Aubrey tells her but will not tell others, the Wards come less often and Ethel is glad she is not 10 years younger but wonders. Leonard feeling after unknown. Meta and Norman have a little boy named Dickie and Flora sees Lenora which makes her sad. Margaret, her little girl is not as Flora wishes but she tries to do right. Averil and Mary are great friends. Henry Ward has his ways which are hard for his siblings, especially limiting the Mab, the pup.
"With Henry she had less in common. He expected of her what she had not learnt, and was not willing to acquire. A man interfering in the woman’s province meets little toleration; and Henry was extremely precise in his requirements of exact order, punctuality, and excellence, in all the arrangements of his house. While breaking her in to housekeeping, he made himself appear almost in the light of a task-master — and what was worse, of a despised task-master. Averil thought she could not respect a brother whose displeasure was manifested by petulance, not sternness, and who cared not only about his dinner, but about the tidy appearance of the drawing- room"
Averil was of the same mind. She had heard Tom May observe that his sister Gertrude would play quite well enough for a lady; for the mission of a lady’s music
Averil spends less time at home and more time their with her music, this is interest would bring her from home which disturbed the peace aspect, the brothers would quarrel. Also Leonard looking for escaped hoped on a scholarship but the home life made studying harder, to forget about Ethel and Henry which was only in my mind, he is not good enough in mind for her. He seems petty and tyrannical. Also Henry is thinking that the Mays cause all their problems and enlists, rascal Harvey Anderson to speak spite against the Mays in his home. Tom's ways cause trouble too incensed. Harvey written a book and has a publisher soon after.
"‘Yes, yes, I know, Harry; but to think how little we knew, or thought, or felt — going on in our own way when you were in such danger and suffering!’ ‘Wasn’t I very glad you were going on in your own way!’ said Harry. ‘Why, Mary, it was that which did it — it has been always that thought of you at the Minster every day, that kept me to reading the Psalms, and so having the book about me. And did not it do one good to lie and think of the snug room, and my father’s spectacles, and all as usual? When they used to lay me on the deck of the Dexter at night, because I could not breathe below, I used to watch old Orion, who was my great friend in the Loyalty Isles, and wish the heathen name had not stuck to the old fellow, he always seemed so like the Christian warrior, climbing up with his shield before him and his. A home like this is a shield to a man in more ways than one, Mary. Hollo, was that the street door?’"
CHAPTER IX
Harry has returned home after being wounded in battle but saved by the bible Margaret gave him, which torn worn gives it to Mary. He sees some changes in the family especially with Tom and Blanche. To him Tom will never be like Norman and is quite aloof. Blanche is quite the lady. Henry Ward is discussed as being very hard to live with and after they all are told of the volunteer for protection of the homeland. Hector gives out rifles as the Rivers donate their land for shooting range. Aubrey tells them that Leonard is not able to join because lack of funds which Hector later gives him a rifle. Leonard still talks to Ethel. I wonder if she is too old fo r a romance after he gets older. Little Margaret at first Leary of sailor Harry but soon they are friends. She is not pretty and looks a little awkward in body. Mrs. Pugh is discussed, a widow of an older man, sees already to give up her widow weeds for fun. Is Harry going to fall in love with Averil? Is Richard going to find love too?
"‘If his sisters were silly, I should not mind,’ said she to Leonard; ‘then he might hold all women cheap from knowing no better; but when they like sensible things, why is every one else to be treated like an ape?’ ‘Never mind,’ said Leonard, ‘he sneers at everybody all alike! I can’t think how Dr. May came to have such a son, or how Aubrey can run after him so.’ ‘I should like to know whether they really think it irreverent to do illuminations.’ ‘Nonsense, Ave; why should you trouble yourself about what he says to tease you? bad luck to him!’"
I wonder if Averil actually likes Tom?
CHAPTER X
The Grange has the soldiers practicing and festivities. Little Margaret is ill and must stay away but with the help of Dr. May, Ethel and Harry. Ethel tells Harry he is most like papa. Flora has been looking worn after her daughter's illness and is brighten up with Harry's effect. Richard shows the widow Pugh, the church and it is not certain if he or Tom likes her and if Averil is liked by Harry or Tom. Henry likes the widow and when the widow wonders if little Margaret is not shown because of a deformity, Leonard is livid with his brothers not denying, which leads to civil unrest at their home until Leonard and Averil visit the widow. Ethel never dances but does with Harry when no partner is found. Then Aubrey and Leonard want to dance with her, which Leonard treats her like a princess.
"This night is my departing night, For here nae longer must I stay; There’s neither friend nor foe of mine. But wishes me away. What I have done through lack of wit, I never, never can recall: I hope ye’re all my friends as yet. Good night, and joy be with you all. Armstrong’s Good Night"
"Henry Ward took this opportunity of giving his first dinner party. He said it was a necessary return for the civilities they had received; and to Averil’s representation that it transgressed the system of rigid economy that so much"
Averil is smart in worrying.
"All night was spent in broken dreams of just failing to meet him, or of being unable to utter what was on her tongue; and in her waking moments she almost reproached herself for the discovery how near her heart he was, and"
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
I wished it was a happier ending where all the Ward girls would be okay. I was happy that Tom married Ave and I was so glad of his character softening. Norman, always said Tom would amaze them, which he did at his studies, his duties, the search for the truth and in his love. Both Ave and Leonard were too proud to go the way which would have caused them trouble. Leonard was being stubborn sticking to working for his uncle and Ave for not looking into Tom's heart sooner. I thought Tom would catch the nephew with some microscope evidence but it came on him all a sudden but he was in Paris not just for studies but some check from Axworthy. He probably would not have meet fate if he had married Ave when he asked her, since she refused he was restless and came across the killer. Ella was so independent and though she cared for her relatives, hers was self centered, more liking to Henry than Leonard. When hearing her brother was not guilty, she really did not seem to care but she can live life again. Minna was the exact opposite. Interesting but not really how marriage can change a person, i.e. Mary, her husband was almost all. I so wanted Ethel to find love with Leonard, even though she was older he had lived more in life being a prisoner and if I would go further for her to marry him and help him. Also Richard deserves a wife, I would want Tom and Ave to live long. Henry was such a self centered prick. He lets his brother go to his uncle's mill, hurts Mab, finally says he will help his brother but after the verdict, cares to go away and not have his named mentioned, borrows his sister's money for schemes, after Minna dies does not look for the other sisters to go home, never cares to return home or talk of his brother, more I am sure. I also meant to say that Leonard's perseverance was quite astounding but when he talked to Dr. May and began to wonder if he did it. It was heart breaking and learning how his sister's suffered afterwards, very upsetting.
"Blanche was too entirely at home with Hector for flutterings or agitations, and was too peacefully happy for grief at the separation, which completed the destiny that she had always seen before her. She was a picture of a bride; and when she and Hector hung round the Doctor, insisting that Edinburgh should be the first place they should visit, and calling forth minute directions for their pilgrimage to the scenes of his youth, promising to come home and tell him all, no wonder he felt himself rather gaining a child than losing one. He was very bright and happy; and no one but Ethel understood how all the time there was a sensation that the present was but a strange dreamy parody of that marriage which had been the theme of earlier hopes."
Blanche and Hector marry young, 17 is her age. Hector persisted that they should marry and live at Maplewood. The scarlet fever is in the neighborhood.
"The epidemic comes and Aubrey is affected by his poor lungs. Dr. Spencer thinks the pond miasma has something to do with the scarlet fever. Daisy says with Richard and Ethel and Mary nurse at home."
Averil Ward, Leonard and Henry Ward. Dr. Ward set Dr. May's arm in Daisy Chain and took care of Margaret while Dr. May recovering. Henry Ward is a young doctor around Harry's age and did not think that the epidemic would spread. His mother her and father are dying of it, and brother is sick as well as himself.
‘What will become of them? Is there likely to be any provision for them?’ ‘Not much, I should guess. Poor Ward did as we are all tempted to do when money goes through our hands, and spent more freely than I was ever allowed to do. Costly house, garden, greenhouses — he’d better have stuck to old Axworthy’s place in Minster Street — daughter at that grand school, where she cost more than the whole half-dozen of you put together.’ ‘She was more worth it,’ said Ethel; ‘her music and drawing are first-rate. Harry was frantic about her singing last time he was at home — one evening when Mrs. Anderson abused his good-nature and got him to a tea-party — I began to be afraid of the consequences.’ ‘Pish!’ said the Doctor."
‘I do not seem to have felt anything yet,’ said Averil, passing her hands over her face. ‘I seem to be made of stone.’ ‘You have done: and that is better than feeling.’
CHAPTER III
Averil is nursing her brother, Leonard until Dr. May and Mary come. Mary helps Averil to bed but the girl worries that Leonard is in danger because both parents recently died of the fever. She feels awkward and has been sent to schools for refinement not usefulness as the May girls. The Wards lived above their means and having the parents gone will put a strain on them and their eldest son Henry. Leonard wakes and thanks the doctor, soon after he finds out the fate of his parents. He is friends with Aubrey May."
‘I thought no one complained unless to get a thing remedied.’ ‘Exactly so. That is man! And experience never shows man that woman’s growls relieve her soul, and that she dreads nothing more than their being acted on! All I wish is, that this scheme may die a natural death; but I should be miserable, and deserved to be so, if I raised a finger to hinder it. What, must you go? Rule Daisy’s lines if she writes to Meta, please.’
CHAPTER IV
Dr. May thinks Leonard needs a change in scenery to recover from his illness and grief after his parents death. He thinks Aubrey and Leonard should go to a spa location with Ethel. He talks to Henry Ward who agrees but when Ethel tells her plan to Averil and Leonard. Averil does not think much of the Mays and gives a sour light to the plan but Dr. May warns her to not put anything in his head. Henry cheers Leonard up with the plan and is happy with the two little girls coming out if the nursery to liven things up. I wonder if Ethel and Henry will start to like each other?
CHAPTER V
Dr. Spencer and Ethel take Leonard and Aubrey to a sea side resort to recover. Before Spencer leaves he tells Ethel about his love for her mother and his bowing out for her father. He regrets the time list in his resolution which made it tougher for his father in his son's travels. Ethel says she knows of his feelings and her father told her years ago. She appreciates all his kindness. Leonard is not recovering like Aubrey and is despondent. Ethel finds a bottle of tonic which her father did not prescribe but his bother Henry. She throws it away and they talk of a mother's loss which softens him up. He is left to himself which is his want and soon a little dog finds him and he seems enlivened by Mab the pup. When the owner is told about the losses of Leonard by Ethel and the dog's help of change, the owner gives the pup to him.
"You, who taught us to love our Walter Scott next to our “Christian Year,” and who gave us half-crowns for rehearsing him when other children were learning the Robin’s Petition, what think you of this poor boy Leonard knowing few of the novels and none of the poems? No wonder the taste of the day is grovelling lower and lower, when people do not begin with the pure high air of his world! To take up one of his works after any of our present school of fiction is like getting up a mountain side after a feverish drawing-room or an offensive street. If it were possible to know the right moment for a book to be really tasted — not thrust aside because crammed down — no, it would not be desirable, as I was going to say, we should only do double mischief."
There are at Coombe sea side. Ethel and the boys are enjoying looking for natural treasures and they are becoming healthier but Leonard is not looking to go home but sees this as such a happy place. The Ernestaffe's see the group and they have a nice time together. Hector likes to buy for his wife and his friends. They travel to Maplewood and see the newlyweds' home. Blanche is quite elegant but always looking to comfort her guests.
"‘Good-bye, Leonard,’ said Ethel, as the two families, after mustering strong at the station, parted at the head of Minster Street; and as she felt the quivering lingering pressure of his hand, she added with a smile, ‘Remember, any Saturday afternoon. And you will come for the books.’"
I wonder if Daisy will be Leonards, and if Ethel finds her match, maybe Henry?
"The moment’s pang was lost in the eager interchange of tidings too minute for correspondence, and in approval of the renovation of the drawing-room, which was so skilful that her first glance would have detected no alteration in the subdued tones of paper, carpet, and chintz, so complete was their loyalty to the spirit of perpetuity. Flora told no one of the pains that, among her many cares, she had spent upon those tints, not so much to gratify Ethel, as because her own wearied spirit craved the repose of home sameness, nor how she had finally sent to Paris for the paper that looked so quiet, but was so exquisitely finished, that the whole room had a new air of refinement."
Good of Flora!
"‘If I were ten years younger, this might be serious,’ meditated Ethel. ‘Happily, it is only a droll adventure for me in my old age, and I have heard say that a little raving for a grown-up woman is a wholesome sort of delusion, at his time of life. So I need not worry about it, and it is pretty and touching while it lasts, good fellow!’"
Ethel attends a cricket match which Leonard wins for the team but he is out of sorts because of the exertion, so Dr. May has him rest with Ethel. Tom has grown but also cynical which makes the Wards stay away. Ethel learns of a fight that Leonard was in to defend her honor after they guessed his admiration. Aubrey tells her but will not tell others, the Wards come less often and Ethel is glad she is not 10 years younger but wonders. Leonard feeling after unknown. Meta and Norman have a little boy named Dickie and Flora sees Lenora which makes her sad. Margaret, her little girl is not as Flora wishes but she tries to do right. Averil and Mary are great friends. Henry Ward has his ways which are hard for his siblings, especially limiting the Mab, the pup.
"With Henry she had less in common. He expected of her what she had not learnt, and was not willing to acquire. A man interfering in the woman’s province meets little toleration; and Henry was extremely precise in his requirements of exact order, punctuality, and excellence, in all the arrangements of his house. While breaking her in to housekeeping, he made himself appear almost in the light of a task-master — and what was worse, of a despised task-master. Averil thought she could not respect a brother whose displeasure was manifested by petulance, not sternness, and who cared not only about his dinner, but about the tidy appearance of the drawing- room"
Averil was of the same mind. She had heard Tom May observe that his sister Gertrude would play quite well enough for a lady; for the mission of a lady’s music
Averil spends less time at home and more time their with her music, this is interest would bring her from home which disturbed the peace aspect, the brothers would quarrel. Also Leonard looking for escaped hoped on a scholarship but the home life made studying harder, to forget about Ethel and Henry which was only in my mind, he is not good enough in mind for her. He seems petty and tyrannical. Also Henry is thinking that the Mays cause all their problems and enlists, rascal Harvey Anderson to speak spite against the Mays in his home. Tom's ways cause trouble too incensed. Harvey written a book and has a publisher soon after.
"‘Yes, yes, I know, Harry; but to think how little we knew, or thought, or felt — going on in our own way when you were in such danger and suffering!’ ‘Wasn’t I very glad you were going on in your own way!’ said Harry. ‘Why, Mary, it was that which did it — it has been always that thought of you at the Minster every day, that kept me to reading the Psalms, and so having the book about me. And did not it do one good to lie and think of the snug room, and my father’s spectacles, and all as usual? When they used to lay me on the deck of the Dexter at night, because I could not breathe below, I used to watch old Orion, who was my great friend in the Loyalty Isles, and wish the heathen name had not stuck to the old fellow, he always seemed so like the Christian warrior, climbing up with his shield before him and his. A home like this is a shield to a man in more ways than one, Mary. Hollo, was that the street door?’"
CHAPTER IX
Harry has returned home after being wounded in battle but saved by the bible Margaret gave him, which torn worn gives it to Mary. He sees some changes in the family especially with Tom and Blanche. To him Tom will never be like Norman and is quite aloof. Blanche is quite the lady. Henry Ward is discussed as being very hard to live with and after they all are told of the volunteer for protection of the homeland. Hector gives out rifles as the Rivers donate their land for shooting range. Aubrey tells them that Leonard is not able to join because lack of funds which Hector later gives him a rifle. Leonard still talks to Ethel. I wonder if she is too old fo r a romance after he gets older. Little Margaret at first Leary of sailor Harry but soon they are friends. She is not pretty and looks a little awkward in body. Mrs. Pugh is discussed, a widow of an older man, sees already to give up her widow weeds for fun. Is Harry going to fall in love with Averil? Is Richard going to find love too?
"‘If his sisters were silly, I should not mind,’ said she to Leonard; ‘then he might hold all women cheap from knowing no better; but when they like sensible things, why is every one else to be treated like an ape?’ ‘Never mind,’ said Leonard, ‘he sneers at everybody all alike! I can’t think how Dr. May came to have such a son, or how Aubrey can run after him so.’ ‘I should like to know whether they really think it irreverent to do illuminations.’ ‘Nonsense, Ave; why should you trouble yourself about what he says to tease you? bad luck to him!’"
I wonder if Averil actually likes Tom?
CHAPTER X
The Grange has the soldiers practicing and festivities. Little Margaret is ill and must stay away but with the help of Dr. May, Ethel and Harry. Ethel tells Harry he is most like papa. Flora has been looking worn after her daughter's illness and is brighten up with Harry's effect. Richard shows the widow Pugh, the church and it is not certain if he or Tom likes her and if Averil is liked by Harry or Tom. Henry likes the widow and when the widow wonders if little Margaret is not shown because of a deformity, Leonard is livid with his brothers not denying, which leads to civil unrest at their home until Leonard and Averil visit the widow. Ethel never dances but does with Harry when no partner is found. Then Aubrey and Leonard want to dance with her, which Leonard treats her like a princess.
"This night is my departing night, For here nae longer must I stay; There’s neither friend nor foe of mine. But wishes me away. What I have done through lack of wit, I never, never can recall: I hope ye’re all my friends as yet. Good night, and joy be with you all. Armstrong’s Good Night"
"Henry Ward took this opportunity of giving his first dinner party. He said it was a necessary return for the civilities they had received; and to Averil’s representation that it transgressed the system of rigid economy that so much"
Averil is smart in worrying.
"All night was spent in broken dreams of just failing to meet him, or of being unable to utter what was on her tongue; and in her waking moments she almost reproached herself for the discovery how near her heart he was, and"
January 30, 2013
Eight years after the publication of her best-seller, The Daisy Chain, Charlotte M Yonge continued the story of the May family in The Trial in 1864. Although not quite up to the quality of the original novel, in some ways The Trial will appeal more to the modern reader.
When an epidemic of scarlet fever or some other now rare childhood disease breaks out Dr May and others work around the clock to help the afflicted, including the Ward family. The two sons and three daughters come through but their parents die. Eldest son, Henry, is a doctor and Dr May offers to help him build a practice while Ethel May volunteers to take the second son, Leonard, who is the hero of the novel, on a trip to the shore where it is hoped that he and Ethel's brother will recover.
They do recover and Ethel becomes close to the teen-aged Leonard. However, the prickly Henry resents the help and friendship of the May family and gets into a serious row with Leonard, who picks up and goes to work as a clerk for a relative. When the old man is murdered, Leonard is arrested, and it is his trial that gives us the title. He is found guilty but Dr May is able to have his sentence reduced from hanging to life in prison.
Henry, embarrassed and humiliated, changes the family name and takes the girls to America. Having no common sense, Henry takes his sister's small inheritance and invests it in what turns out to be a fever-ridden town in the wilderness. Then he goes off to join the Union army's medical corps.
The plot is worked very carefully. In addition to Leonard's trial, other characters face trials of their own as they struggle to do what is right and to overcome hardships. The religion and didacticism is less prominent in this sequel and the characters of the Ward family are well-developed.
Charlotte Yonge is going through a bit of a rediscovery, with this book, The Daisy Chain, The Heir of Redclyffe, The Clever Woman of the Family, and The Pillars of the House showing up on reading lists and in blogs. It takes a little work to overlook the Oxford movement saturation of some of the books, but Yonge's stories, characters, and portrayal of everyday life in a middle-class provincial family is worth it.
When an epidemic of scarlet fever or some other now rare childhood disease breaks out Dr May and others work around the clock to help the afflicted, including the Ward family. The two sons and three daughters come through but their parents die. Eldest son, Henry, is a doctor and Dr May offers to help him build a practice while Ethel May volunteers to take the second son, Leonard, who is the hero of the novel, on a trip to the shore where it is hoped that he and Ethel's brother will recover.
They do recover and Ethel becomes close to the teen-aged Leonard. However, the prickly Henry resents the help and friendship of the May family and gets into a serious row with Leonard, who picks up and goes to work as a clerk for a relative. When the old man is murdered, Leonard is arrested, and it is his trial that gives us the title. He is found guilty but Dr May is able to have his sentence reduced from hanging to life in prison.
Henry, embarrassed and humiliated, changes the family name and takes the girls to America. Having no common sense, Henry takes his sister's small inheritance and invests it in what turns out to be a fever-ridden town in the wilderness. Then he goes off to join the Union army's medical corps.
The plot is worked very carefully. In addition to Leonard's trial, other characters face trials of their own as they struggle to do what is right and to overcome hardships. The religion and didacticism is less prominent in this sequel and the characters of the Ward family are well-developed.
Charlotte Yonge is going through a bit of a rediscovery, with this book, The Daisy Chain, The Heir of Redclyffe, The Clever Woman of the Family, and The Pillars of the House showing up on reading lists and in blogs. It takes a little work to overlook the Oxford movement saturation of some of the books, but Yonge's stories, characters, and portrayal of everyday life in a middle-class provincial family is worth it.
January 13, 2025
There is something refreshing about Younge's novels. They have idealized characters, sometimes a little to much drama, yet are so wholesome and winsome one can't help loving this.
This continues the saga of the May Family and their new friends the Wards. While there were a couple of points I would quibble with (why did Dr May tell all the Ward siblings to honor Henry instead of confronting Henry about how horrible he was?) I still adore this book.
Yonge's books have planted deeply in the soil of faith and right living and blossom in adversity and trial.
While I don't think any book can take the place of The Heir of Redclyffe the two books about the May siblings will aways hold a special place in my heart.
This continues the saga of the May Family and their new friends the Wards. While there were a couple of points I would quibble with (why did Dr May tell all the Ward siblings to honor Henry instead of confronting Henry about how horrible he was?) I still adore this book.
Yonge's books have planted deeply in the soil of faith and right living and blossom in adversity and trial.
While I don't think any book can take the place of The Heir of Redclyffe the two books about the May siblings will aways hold a special place in my heart.
August 28, 2023
Yonge wields her scythe with a Jacobean panache to sweep aside at least five major-rôle characters to reinforce the idea that any deviation from the true Christian faith will result in a retribution that is truly awful. This is illustrated by Yonge in both 'The Daisy Chain' and 'The Trial' by the death or serious body/mental affliction of many major characters as the direct or indirect result of their ethical or moral principles or lack thereof: the death of Mrs May, the family's lynchpin, is the result of the hasty and ill-advised action of Dr May in driving a half broken horse over which he has no control; of the middle Ward sister in the unhealthy swamps of Massissauga, and the near terminal illness of the older Ward sister both seem, on the face of it, directly attributable to Henry Ward, but in reality, suggests Yonge, it is Leonard Ward himself, through his ill-controlled temper, and Averil Ward, with her airs and graces and haughty resentments, that bring down their misfortunes on themselves. Norman and Meta's little son, Dickie, sent to England to be educated, is nearly killed as a result of Gertrude May's wildness.
Christian principles are naturally woven into the story, but for the first time, Yonge looks at the new doubts of the age, raised as a result of the spirit of scientific inquiry sweeping across the century; whether it shows itself in the "hardness" of girls like Gertrude, who will not be corrected, or weary prisoners who have lost any faith they might once had, or in the absence of churches in the newly burgeoning townships of backwoods America, both Darwin and the opposing religious reformation of the nineteenth century had a great influence on Yonge's books, and particularly in this one.
'The Trial' follows on from 'The Daisy Chain' but is a standalone novel, though there are references to events in the earlier book. It helps if you read 'Daisy Chain' first, but it is not important to 'The Trial'. In some ways, this is a coming of age novel, with the older May siblings settling to careers or marriage, and the younger ones facing all the crises of adolescence. Ethel has mellowed, but is still perceived as a benevolent tyrant, especially by her latest brother-in-law, the pompous Mr Charles Cheviot, the new Headmaster, while Dr May has a serious disconnect with two of his sons. How the impatient physician and his third son, the deeply reserved Thomas, also a doctor, heal their relationship is one of the best parts of the novel, but it is also deeply wounding to both before the healing starts.
Interspersed is the judicial trial for murder of one of their friends, Leonard Ward, a boy of sixteen, his conviction and sentence of death, later commuted to life imprisonment, and how this impacts on two families - the Wards and the Mays. The Ward family played no role in 'The Daisy Chain', except for Dr Ward, called in at the time of the accident that killed Mrs May and crippled Margaret May. Dr May always held him responsible for the faulty resetting of his left arm, which never healed properly. When both old Dr Ward and Mrs Ward die in a scarlet fever epidemic, their children are left to fend for themselves. Henry Ward, the oldest, a surgeon practising in the same hospital as his father and Dr May, has little self-confidence and less commonsense to start with. He seems overwhelmed by his responsibilities to his siblings, which makes him a petty despot to his brother and three sisters. His controlling ways and poor judgement, financial and professional, result in a series of disasters for his family, starting with Leonard's conviction, and poverty, disease and death in America for his sisters, while he gets involved as a surgeon in the American Civil War.
The fact that Leonard is innocent of the crime he is accused of seems to have no meaning for Henry Ward. He was too ashamed to present himself at his brother's trial, and showed no solidarity with his younger brother and no belief in his innocence. As soon as the sentence of death was passed, he took the decision to emigrate to America with his sisters under an assumed name, forbidding them to mention Leonard ever again and in America leading them to a life of fever-ridden poverty. In all of Leonard's difficulties, it was the May family that took care of him, eventually solving the riddle of the murder.
Meanwhile, in the May family, the focus is on Tom and his evolution from an intellectual sniper to humility and kindness, especially vis-a-vis his father. "His politeness was intense - most punctilious and condescending in form - and yet provoking beyond measure to persons who, like Henry and Averil, had not playfulness enough to detect with certainty whether they were being made game of or not, nor whether his smoothly-uttered compliments were not innuendoes." Also, in his studies in medicine he has also gained the offer of a junior partnership in a highly successful London medical practice which he prefers to being his father's assistant in a country practice. For those familiar with 'The Daisy Chain', and remember Flora May Rivers, that proud beauty has been so altered by remorse for her earlier, worldly aspirations and a new sense of duty that she has become "witchlike." The other troublemaker is the youngest May daughter, spoiled, headstrong and extremely discourteous, whose brother confides to Ethel, "I can't stand Gertrude."
Among the casualties in 'The Trial' is Dr Spencer, Dr May's lifelong friend, whose enormous medical experience abroad has alerted him to the parlous state of the open drains and ditches in Stoneborough and outlying areas, which he immediately connects to infectious illnesses like cholera or the scarlet fever that killed the Wards senior. Dr May ignores this or laughs it off as a bee in his friend's bonnet, while Tom recognises the seriousness of the situation and despises his father accordingly.
One very perceptive observation is the kind of lethargy that overtakes Leonard in his three-year incarceration. From being a bright, open-hearted youth, though hot-tempered and hasty with his elder brother, he says of himself: 'Living - as - as I thought I should when I made up my mind to life instead of death,' said Leonard; 'but all that went away. I let it slip, and instead came everything possible of cowardice, and hatred, and bitterness. I lost my hold of certainty what I had done or what I had not, and the horror, the malice, the rebellion that used to come on me in that frightful light white silent place, were unutterable! I wish you would not have me among you all, when I know there can hardly be a wicked thought that did not surge over me.' The quiet Richard May and the eight-year old grandson of Dr May, Dickie, together restore Leonard, mind and spirit.
Although battle scenes are mercifully missing, Yonge follows the Civil War battles through the fortunes of the American family who shelter the Wardens, as well as through the movements of Henry Ward, now with the Union Army as surgeon, and also through the anxieties of relatives and friends in England. Yonge also paints an excellent picture of early immigrants in the far and middle western states in the 1860s, as well of the wild fauna and flora - and the snakes that crawl into homesteads still being built.
Still, the tone and theme are both deeply depressing, with barely a grudging prospect of redemption/happiness at the end. There is no development in the story of Ethel, "the head of the family", nor is the kindly Richard given his due; Nor do we see anything of Norman and Meta, and Harry sails in and out - literally. The girls too have become complacent and placid nonentities after marriage, while Flora is still expiating her earlier sin of misplaced ambition.
Christian principles are naturally woven into the story, but for the first time, Yonge looks at the new doubts of the age, raised as a result of the spirit of scientific inquiry sweeping across the century; whether it shows itself in the "hardness" of girls like Gertrude, who will not be corrected, or weary prisoners who have lost any faith they might once had, or in the absence of churches in the newly burgeoning townships of backwoods America, both Darwin and the opposing religious reformation of the nineteenth century had a great influence on Yonge's books, and particularly in this one.
'The Trial' follows on from 'The Daisy Chain' but is a standalone novel, though there are references to events in the earlier book. It helps if you read 'Daisy Chain' first, but it is not important to 'The Trial'. In some ways, this is a coming of age novel, with the older May siblings settling to careers or marriage, and the younger ones facing all the crises of adolescence. Ethel has mellowed, but is still perceived as a benevolent tyrant, especially by her latest brother-in-law, the pompous Mr Charles Cheviot, the new Headmaster, while Dr May has a serious disconnect with two of his sons. How the impatient physician and his third son, the deeply reserved Thomas, also a doctor, heal their relationship is one of the best parts of the novel, but it is also deeply wounding to both before the healing starts.
Interspersed is the judicial trial for murder of one of their friends, Leonard Ward, a boy of sixteen, his conviction and sentence of death, later commuted to life imprisonment, and how this impacts on two families - the Wards and the Mays. The Ward family played no role in 'The Daisy Chain', except for Dr Ward, called in at the time of the accident that killed Mrs May and crippled Margaret May. Dr May always held him responsible for the faulty resetting of his left arm, which never healed properly. When both old Dr Ward and Mrs Ward die in a scarlet fever epidemic, their children are left to fend for themselves. Henry Ward, the oldest, a surgeon practising in the same hospital as his father and Dr May, has little self-confidence and less commonsense to start with. He seems overwhelmed by his responsibilities to his siblings, which makes him a petty despot to his brother and three sisters. His controlling ways and poor judgement, financial and professional, result in a series of disasters for his family, starting with Leonard's conviction, and poverty, disease and death in America for his sisters, while he gets involved as a surgeon in the American Civil War.
The fact that Leonard is innocent of the crime he is accused of seems to have no meaning for Henry Ward. He was too ashamed to present himself at his brother's trial, and showed no solidarity with his younger brother and no belief in his innocence. As soon as the sentence of death was passed, he took the decision to emigrate to America with his sisters under an assumed name, forbidding them to mention Leonard ever again and in America leading them to a life of fever-ridden poverty. In all of Leonard's difficulties, it was the May family that took care of him, eventually solving the riddle of the murder.
Meanwhile, in the May family, the focus is on Tom and his evolution from an intellectual sniper to humility and kindness, especially vis-a-vis his father. "His politeness was intense - most punctilious and condescending in form - and yet provoking beyond measure to persons who, like Henry and Averil, had not playfulness enough to detect with certainty whether they were being made game of or not, nor whether his smoothly-uttered compliments were not innuendoes." Also, in his studies in medicine he has also gained the offer of a junior partnership in a highly successful London medical practice which he prefers to being his father's assistant in a country practice. For those familiar with 'The Daisy Chain', and remember Flora May Rivers, that proud beauty has been so altered by remorse for her earlier, worldly aspirations and a new sense of duty that she has become "witchlike." The other troublemaker is the youngest May daughter, spoiled, headstrong and extremely discourteous, whose brother confides to Ethel, "I can't stand Gertrude."
Among the casualties in 'The Trial' is Dr Spencer, Dr May's lifelong friend, whose enormous medical experience abroad has alerted him to the parlous state of the open drains and ditches in Stoneborough and outlying areas, which he immediately connects to infectious illnesses like cholera or the scarlet fever that killed the Wards senior. Dr May ignores this or laughs it off as a bee in his friend's bonnet, while Tom recognises the seriousness of the situation and despises his father accordingly.
One very perceptive observation is the kind of lethargy that overtakes Leonard in his three-year incarceration. From being a bright, open-hearted youth, though hot-tempered and hasty with his elder brother, he says of himself: 'Living - as - as I thought I should when I made up my mind to life instead of death,' said Leonard; 'but all that went away. I let it slip, and instead came everything possible of cowardice, and hatred, and bitterness. I lost my hold of certainty what I had done or what I had not, and the horror, the malice, the rebellion that used to come on me in that frightful light white silent place, were unutterable! I wish you would not have me among you all, when I know there can hardly be a wicked thought that did not surge over me.' The quiet Richard May and the eight-year old grandson of Dr May, Dickie, together restore Leonard, mind and spirit.
Although battle scenes are mercifully missing, Yonge follows the Civil War battles through the fortunes of the American family who shelter the Wardens, as well as through the movements of Henry Ward, now with the Union Army as surgeon, and also through the anxieties of relatives and friends in England. Yonge also paints an excellent picture of early immigrants in the far and middle western states in the 1860s, as well of the wild fauna and flora - and the snakes that crawl into homesteads still being built.
Still, the tone and theme are both deeply depressing, with barely a grudging prospect of redemption/happiness at the end. There is no development in the story of Ethel, "the head of the family", nor is the kindly Richard given his due; Nor do we see anything of Norman and Meta, and Harry sails in and out - literally. The girls too have become complacent and placid nonentities after marriage, while Flora is still expiating her earlier sin of misplaced ambition.
Read
February 8, 2015This is a direct sequel to The Daisy Chain, read that first.
You couldn't write a fantasy novel now in which the metaphysics and assumptions about the way the universe works work the way Yonge presents them, or if you could -- and don't think I haven't thought about it -- nobody could accept God as good. George R.R. Martin is nothing to Yonge when it comes to killing off characters one has grown attached to, though as in her universe death in surety of Heaven is viewed as a good thing, she doesn't see it the way I do.
Terrific book.
You couldn't write a fantasy novel now in which the metaphysics and assumptions about the way the universe works work the way Yonge presents them, or if you could -- and don't think I haven't thought about it -- nobody could accept God as good. George R.R. Martin is nothing to Yonge when it comes to killing off characters one has grown attached to, though as in her universe death in surety of Heaven is viewed as a good thing, she doesn't see it the way I do.
Terrific book.
January 18, 2025
Since I discovered Charlotte Mary Yonge by watching Kate Howes enthousiastic reviews of her books on Youtube I can't stop reading her. Her writing style, elaboration of characters and her christian faith keep on attracting me.
So far I read 'The heir of Radcliffe', 'The daisy chain' and ' Hopes and fears.' But the latest one ' The trial' will stay with me the most.
After ' The daisy chain' I had expected more stories about the every day life of the May family and their trials. Surprisingly the main event in the book appeared to be a real trial, with an innocent character convicted and imprisoned for murder. Waw, that wasn't an account of Victorian everyday life as I had thought I would read about but a detailed description of the Victorian way of dealing with suspects and the legal system. I wonder whether CM ever attended a courtcase or visited the Portland prison island she writes about. It all sounded very real to me and was so interesting to read about.
Besides that I was so impressed by the characterization of Leonard, his experiences and purification, a Victorian Joseph story which highly touched me. Putting Leonard on the same level as Joseph didn't tempt CM to give Leonard a saint like status. On the contrary, she portrayed him as a human of flesh and blood with depressive moods and struggles. After his release from prison, Leonard also needed to deal with the consequences of his imprisonment, dealing with his trauma and learning to live as a free man again. A very realistic account!
The character of Tom intrigued me. Initially he irritated me by his rude and sarcastic behaviour and I didn't see a link with the younger Tom in ' The daisy chain', the anxious and coward boy.
But as I got to know him better and realized how he didn't get the support from his father he probably longed for and therefore maybe had closed his heart and as he gradually began to show his real self, I grew to love him, especially as his love for Avril didn't appear to be a whim but a deep rooten affection.
And of course there were my beloved Ethel and Dr May. I wonder whether their relationship reflects the relationship between C.M and her father as they apparently also got on so very well.
I did love the detailed description of Ethels and the boys trip to the seaside, so vivid and real that I joined them in my thoughts. Also Leonards trip home after his release was so beautifully described.
Yes, I loved this book so much! And I could get on and on writing about it another hour! Yet there is one thing that puzzels me! And that's the unmerciful description of Flora's child, as she's said to be ugly and unattractive and also the blunt remarks about Ethels appearance. In my opinion these words don't sound loving at all. CM, why? :-)
So far I read 'The heir of Radcliffe', 'The daisy chain' and ' Hopes and fears.' But the latest one ' The trial' will stay with me the most.
After ' The daisy chain' I had expected more stories about the every day life of the May family and their trials. Surprisingly the main event in the book appeared to be a real trial, with an innocent character convicted and imprisoned for murder. Waw, that wasn't an account of Victorian everyday life as I had thought I would read about but a detailed description of the Victorian way of dealing with suspects and the legal system. I wonder whether CM ever attended a courtcase or visited the Portland prison island she writes about. It all sounded very real to me and was so interesting to read about.
Besides that I was so impressed by the characterization of Leonard, his experiences and purification, a Victorian Joseph story which highly touched me. Putting Leonard on the same level as Joseph didn't tempt CM to give Leonard a saint like status. On the contrary, she portrayed him as a human of flesh and blood with depressive moods and struggles. After his release from prison, Leonard also needed to deal with the consequences of his imprisonment, dealing with his trauma and learning to live as a free man again. A very realistic account!
The character of Tom intrigued me. Initially he irritated me by his rude and sarcastic behaviour and I didn't see a link with the younger Tom in ' The daisy chain', the anxious and coward boy.
But as I got to know him better and realized how he didn't get the support from his father he probably longed for and therefore maybe had closed his heart and as he gradually began to show his real self, I grew to love him, especially as his love for Avril didn't appear to be a whim but a deep rooten affection.
And of course there were my beloved Ethel and Dr May. I wonder whether their relationship reflects the relationship between C.M and her father as they apparently also got on so very well.
I did love the detailed description of Ethels and the boys trip to the seaside, so vivid and real that I joined them in my thoughts. Also Leonards trip home after his release was so beautifully described.
Yes, I loved this book so much! And I could get on and on writing about it another hour! Yet there is one thing that puzzels me! And that's the unmerciful description of Flora's child, as she's said to be ugly and unattractive and also the blunt remarks about Ethels appearance. In my opinion these words don't sound loving at all. CM, why? :-)
December 12, 2023
Charlotte Younge, a hugely popular Victorian novelist, is now largely forgotten. One cannot claim this is entirely unjust as her books contain much of what we now pejoratively deem “Victorian”—overly sentimental, religious (Church of England), and (mostly) conformist to sex roles. However, there is enough good writing and subversive bits imbedded in her novels to keep me coming back to them. The Trial is a monster to get through, especially as it introduces at least a dozen characters in the first chapter. Once you get your bearings, that this is the story of two families—the Ward and the Mays and how their upbringing and relationships effected the outcomes of their lives—it becomes not only interesting, but highly readable. Yonge wants to show the contrast between a family run by a male-dominated, selfish, unsympathetic head (Henry Ward) and a tolerant, affectionate female-headed one (Esther May). The families are united by profession (both have Dr’s in them), and by the youngest sons’ friendship (which now reads much like a gay romance). The youngest Ward boy, Leonard, cannot get along with his domineering oldest brother after their parents die of small-pox, and he is sent away to an uncle’s mill where he is accused of his uncle’s murder. The trial is riveting and remarkably detailed—it’s simply amazing that Yonge had such a subtle grasp of English law. After the conviction, the novel drifts for over 100 pages—the Wards, humiliated, move to a savage and grubby America, while the Mays attempt to exonerate Leonard. While very uneven, I would recommend The Trial for its highly developed characters, themes about gender roles, the rise of science vs. religion, and realistic view of Victorian thought in mid-Nineteenth century.
January 21, 2025
Hovering between 4 and 5 stars. A sequel as worthy as its predecessor, The Daisy Chain! A longer review to come.
January 7, 2016
I like her writing very much even though the details can be overwhelming at times. This was part of a series but was a complete story without really knowing the characters first.
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