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American Wives & English Husbands
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Library Binding
Published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Gertrude Atherton
219 books61 followersGertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (October 30, 1857 – June 14, 1948) was a prominent and prolific American author. Many of her novels are set in her home state of California. Her bestseller Black Oxen (1923) was made into a silent movie of the same name. In addition to novels, she wrote short stories, essays, and articles for magazines and newspapers on such issues as feminism, politics, and war. She was strong-willed, independent-minded, and sometimes controversial.
She wrote using the pen names Asmodeus and Frank Lin, a play on her middle name.
She wrote using the pen names Asmodeus and Frank Lin, a play on her middle name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 7, 2013
I am reading a library copy, so am not experiencing the typos mentioned in the description. Thank you Berkeley, CA public library for having this book in your collection!
And now that I've finished: I have always been interested in the little subgenre of books set during the period when many wealthy young American women married members of the impoverished English nobility, saved their estates, and gained titles as part of the bargain. Others I've enjoyed include Anthony Trollope's The Duke's Children and Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. Although this book wasn't up to their literary level, I've had a strange fascination with the nearly forgotten novels of Gertrude Atherton ever since I moved to Northern California in 2000 and read a book of hers set in Petaluma, my current town. I appreciate the way her (now) period pieces captured a bygone California that is still a bit more in evidence here than it was in my native Southern California, where it's pretty hard to find many glimpses of the past any longer.
And now that I've finished: I have always been interested in the little subgenre of books set during the period when many wealthy young American women married members of the impoverished English nobility, saved their estates, and gained titles as part of the bargain. Others I've enjoyed include Anthony Trollope's The Duke's Children and Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. Although this book wasn't up to their literary level, I've had a strange fascination with the nearly forgotten novels of Gertrude Atherton ever since I moved to Northern California in 2000 and read a book of hers set in Petaluma, my current town. I appreciate the way her (now) period pieces captured a bygone California that is still a bit more in evidence here than it was in my native Southern California, where it's pretty hard to find many glimpses of the past any longer.
November 15, 2020
Even when one sets aside Atherton's glorification of the pre-Civil War south, this is a bit of a slog, albeit with occasional moments of interesting descriptions of turn of the century San Francisco.
January 20, 2021
Wow, absolutely incredible. This book has your jaw on the floor time and time again for its twists and addictive storytelling. The setting of post-Civil War San Francisco and the migration of ex-slave holders, and the colony they essentially started in California, was a setting I’ve never seen before. It’s a liminal time worth exploring in other mediums and I hope to find other books in this time period and place.
The development of these characters, even side characters like Randolph, Coralie and Emmy, was tangibly real. Cecil, so deeply flawed, and Lee, so deeply traumatized, have a relationship hard to understand. It’s a truly human story and relatable to today’s world in a way, particularly growth and sacrifice in relationships; but also very much a picture of a lost era (the estate-saving of the late 1800s.)
It’s not a lesson to be taken from the characters - it’s much more of a cautionary tale, even in its own time. The glorification of the South before the Civil War as well as the British Peerage breaches a conversation about the importance of letting the past, be the past.
This should be amongst the great works of American literature, and particularly women’s lit. I’m upset that it’s been out of print for over 100 years and I hope it can be a BBC adaptation so we have a good at seeing this re-emerge, and put Atherton alongside Austen, Thackeray, Burney, and the Brontes where she belongs.
The development of these characters, even side characters like Randolph, Coralie and Emmy, was tangibly real. Cecil, so deeply flawed, and Lee, so deeply traumatized, have a relationship hard to understand. It’s a truly human story and relatable to today’s world in a way, particularly growth and sacrifice in relationships; but also very much a picture of a lost era (the estate-saving of the late 1800s.)
It’s not a lesson to be taken from the characters - it’s much more of a cautionary tale, even in its own time. The glorification of the South before the Civil War as well as the British Peerage breaches a conversation about the importance of letting the past, be the past.
This should be amongst the great works of American literature, and particularly women’s lit. I’m upset that it’s been out of print for over 100 years and I hope it can be a BBC adaptation so we have a good at seeing this re-emerge, and put Atherton alongside Austen, Thackeray, Burney, and the Brontes where she belongs.
March 9, 2017
Eleven year old Lee Tarleton meets almost fifteen British lad Cecil Maundrell at the San Francisco boarding house where she lives with her invalid widowed mother. Lee (named after General Robert E.) has been brought up with an awareness of her genteel Southern heritage, even though she and her mother must live frugally. Lee and Cecil become childhood friends. When Cecil and his father must return suddenly to England, Cecil and Lee promise themselves to each other. As their lives take separate paths for eight years, Lee never forgets her bond with Cecil. When they are united again, Lee is thrust into a world she could not imagine. It takes all her native courage, determination and ingenuity to hold onto her dream and succeed in her new life.
Gertrude Atherton should be better known. She was a prolific author, with works that received both praise and ridicule. Her personal life was out of the ordinary, too. This site has an interesting analysis:
http://www.cateweb.org/CA_Authors/Ath...
(A reference to a "tragedy" at "Randolph House" led me to the discovery that some characters in this novel reappear in Daughter of the Vine and Ancestors.)
Gertrude Atherton should be better known. She was a prolific author, with works that received both praise and ridicule. Her personal life was out of the ordinary, too. This site has an interesting analysis:
http://www.cateweb.org/CA_Authors/Ath...
(A reference to a "tragedy" at "Randolph House" led me to the discovery that some characters in this novel reappear in Daughter of the Vine and Ancestors.)
December 31, 2010
I enjoyed this book, the ending threw me for an unexpected loop. I do wonder if there is a sequeal to it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews