Tragic Bride

by Francis Brett Young

Devastated by the death of his wife, Sir Jocelyn Hewish neglects his tomboy daughter, Gabrielle, who grows up in the evocative Connemara landscape, cared for by the superstitious Biddy Joyce and educated by Rev Marmaduke Considine, “a gentleman of small domestic experience”. Outgrowing her wild years, Gabrielle is taken by her father on a trip to Dublin where she is attracted to a young naval Second Lieutenant, an encounter which is shattered by tragedy and ensuing mystery. Persuaded into a loveless marriage with Considine, twenty years her senior, Gabrielle moves to Devon where her husband establishes a boys’ school. Here she takes an interest in one of his pupils, a boy with no sense of right or wrong. The possibility of scandal is averted by a determined midnight battle of wills between Gabrielle and the boy’s mother. The story ends with further tragedy and the enigma of Gabrielle Hewish unresolved.

Genres: Classics

170 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Francis Brett Young was born in 1884 at Hales Owen, Worcestershire, the eldest son of Dr Thomas Brett Young.

Educated at Iona Cottage High School, Sutton Coldfield and Epsom College, Francis read Medicine at Birmingham University before entering general practice at Brixham in 1907. The following year he married Jessie Hankinson whom he had met during his medical studies. She was a singer of some repute, having appeared as a soloist in Henry Wood's Promenade Concerts.

Francis based one of his earliest novels Deep Sea (1914) in Brixham but was soon to be caught up in the Great War. He served in the R.A.M.C. in East Africa, experiences recorded in Marching on Tanga.

After the war Francis and Jessie went to live in Capri where a number of novels with African as well as English backgrounds were produced. Popular success came in 1927 when Francis was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Portrait of Clare.

The Brett Youngs returned to England in 1929, staying for a while in the Lake District before settling at Craycombe House in Worcestershire in 1932. During this period Francis was at the height of his fame and his annually produced novels were eagerly awaited.

During the Second World War Francis laboured on his long poem covering the spread of English history from prehistoric times. Entitled The Island, it was published in 1944 and regarded by Francis as his greatest achievement.

Following a breakdown in his health Francis and Jessie moved to South Africa where he died in 1954. His ashes were brought back to this country and interred in Worcester Cathedral.

Reviews

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much although it's difficult to pinpoint the reason. Nothing really happens, in terms of action or excitement. The interest lies in the characters -- their interactions with each other and the ways in which they change. The ending was quite shocking and mysterious. I felt like I wanted to read the book again because I might (must?) have missed a detail which would explain the ending, and yet I felt sure that I hadn't missed anything at all.

I had not heard of this author until one of my GR friends read this book, but I will certainly look for more of his books in the future. It deserves a solid three stars -- maybe more, after I ponder it a bit. I listened to the Librivox recording, which was superbly done by Roger Melin.

[Dorcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Gabrielle is the only child of a rather debauched gentleman living in a crumbling Irish stately home. Being quite isolated, she is mainly brought up by his lowly housekeeper/ mistress Biddy and one or two servants.

Around her 15th or 16th year she experiences society while visiting a cousin in Dublin (or therabouts) and meets a guest, a sailor. They become friendly and she invites him to visit her and her father in the country for some shooting.

Romance and tragedy follows.

Gabriella is quickly married off to a "safe" parson twenty years her senior and therafter endures a rather dreary existence.

However, after some time has passed, her husband embarks on a new business venture. An expensive private boys school, where young men can learn how to care for the estates they will one day inherit. Business management, estate planning, as well as their regular scholarly lessons give the youths no time for mischief and healthy doses of exercise. For an extra fee even difficult and problematic youths are welcome.

And so Arthur, an amoral young man with no conscience or compass arrives at the home, a young man beautiful in body, but possessing no soul...
Can anyone reach him before it's too late? And what will that mean?

I can't say anymore, but it's a highly thought provoking and tragic read.


A star knocked off for very little dialog in the first half. (Story is related by a third party so much is told, however this improves in the latter half).

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read in the Project Gutenberg transcription.

Good grief: this thing never seemed to actually get started. I'm used to books having a certain amount of background before the action begins, but this background just kept going and going, until I realized that I was chapters in and no immediate action was in sight. Instead of adhering to the advice to "show, don't tell," Young seems to have decided to "tell, don't show": most of the scenes summed up by the author, and not a lot of dialog; and it was never really clear where this thing was going. Why do we have a narrator for a prologue who vanishes once the book starts? Why is it mentioned in the prologue that a character has died, when that's not an incident in the book? (I shuffled to the end of the book, to see if it got more interesting. It didn't.)

Bleh. I've got other books to read.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Published in 1921, this Francis Brett Young novel can still be bought in paperback off Amazon, one of a few FBY novels that House of stratus re-published a few years ago.There is something quite definitely Hardyesque about the character of Gabrielle, a wild and beautiful girl who marries a much older man at the behest of her father. I enjoyed FBY's writing, the landscape always seems to raise up off the pages and surround the reader. This time though instead of the Brett Young's familiar landscape of the Midlands we have the first part of the book set in rural Ireland. Later we move to Devon, a place Brett Young lived and worked for a time and so knew well, and yet for me the most evocotive section of the book was that set in Ireland. Gabrielle is not a happy character, her life not an easy one, but I found her very likeable although rather passive at times. There is, though, I thought a clever little twist at the end - something to get the reader wondering. The Tragic Bride is much shorter novel than many FBY novel's, but Brett Young was a gifted story teller, and this was a very good story and well written.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly engaging, considering I downloaded it for free on a whim. Gabrielle, the tragic bride of the title, really doesn't have a great life. From her wild upbringing in West Ireland, she discovers love, tragedy and the inexorable demands of social duty all before she turns 20. I knew it wasn't going to end especially happily, although she got a tiny bit of justice in the end. The biggest problem with this book was the framing device - the author claiming to have heard the story which is what gave him the authority to write it. But there was no way he could have known the detail, which made the frame completely unrealistic. It didn't need it.

[Sharon Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

not for everyone