The Wheels of Time

by Florence L. Barclay, R.G. Vosburgh (Illustrator)

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92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

She was born Florence Louisa Charlesworth in Limpsfield, Surrey, England, the daughter of the local Anglican rector. One of three girls, she was a sister to Maud Ballington Booth, the Salvation Army leader and co-founder of the Volunteers of America. When Florence was seven years old, the family moved to Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

In 1881, Florence Charlesworth married the Rev. Charles W. Barclay and honeymooned in the Holy Land, where, in Shechem, they reportedly discovered Jacob's Well, the place where, according to the Gospel of St John, Jesus met the woman of Samaria (John 4-5). Florence Barclay and her husband settled in Hertford Heath, in Hertfordshire, where she fulfilled the duties of a rector's wife. She became the mother of eight children. In her early forties health problems left her bedridden for a time and she passed the hours by writing what became her first romance novel titled The Wheels of Time. Her next novel, The Rosary, a story of undying love, was published in 1909 and its success eventually resulted in its being translated into eight languages and made into five motion pictures, also in several languages. According to the New York Times, the novel was the No.1 bestselling novel of 1910 in the United States. The enduring popularity of the book was such that more than twenty-five years later, Sunday Circle magazine serialized the story and in 1926 the prominent French playwright Alexandre Bisson adapted the book as a three-act play for the Parisian stage.

Florence Barclay wrote eleven books in all, including a work of non-fiction. Her novel The Mistress of Shenstone (1910) was made into a silent film of the same title in 1921. Her short story Under the Mulberry Tree appeared in the special issue called "The Spring Romance Number" of the Ladies Home Journal of 11 May 1911.

Florence Barclay died in 1921 at the age of fifty-eight. The Life of Florence Barclay: a study in personality was published anonymously that year by G. P. Putnam's Sons "by one of Her Daughters.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, short, old-fashioned story read on Project Gutenberg. I'd read it once before but don't remember when. Deryck is a psychiatrist who loves his practice of working with mentally ill patients. When he married, he expected that his wife would be a helper, if not exactly in his practice, then at least by being there when he needed sympathy or a listening ear. But he married a Flower - a flower in name and a woman of beauty, but one who had no desire to know anything about his working life. She even made him separate his home into different areas so that she would not accidentally come into contact with any of his patients, whose mental conditions might disturb her. But a friend cautions her that "the wheels of time" only move forward, and that one day his need for her might vanish, and she might come too late to appreciate that he not only loves her, but needs her as well. And her friend is right - the day comes when she pleads with God to turn the wheels of time back - that she might have another chance to be the wife her husband needs. Is it too late?

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best read aloud.

[Fátima · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wheels of Time (1908)
The Rosary (1909)
The Mistress of Shenstone (1910)
The Following of the Star (1911)
Through the Postern Gate (1911)
The Upas Tree (1912)
The Broken Halo (1913)
The Wall of Partition (1914)
The Golden Censer (1914)
My Heart's Right There (1914)
In Hoc Vince: The Story of the Red Cross Flag (1915) (não-ficção)
The White Ladies of Worcester (1917)
Returned Empty (1920)
Shorter Works (1923) (coleção de contos e artigos publicados postumamente)
Guy Mervyn (1932) (revisado por uma de suas filhas e publicado postumamente)

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

As another reviewer stated, this book is not too profound, but it is definitely of interest to those who have already read The Rosary and The Mistress of Shenstone. I would advise reading those other books first--or at least The Rosary. Then come back to The Wheels of Time, and you already know and respect and love Dr. Deryck Brand, but you don't know much about him. Then and only then will this book be an intriguing read. A bonus is that Jane Champion plays a sizable role!

[Trine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always known there had to be a prequel to The Rosary so I was thrilled when I discovered this story and even found the whole story online. It wasn't quite as profound as I had expected though but still sweet with its old-fashioned but eternal truths about the love between a man and a woman.