What do you think?
Rate this book
Asphodel
Publication date 1882
Collection emory; yellowbacks; americana
Digitizing sponsor Emory University, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
Contributor Emory University, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
Language English
Bound in illustrated paper-covered boards
Date of publication from Topp
Wolff, R.L. 19th cent. fiction
Sadleir, M. 19th cent. fiction
Topp, C.W. Victorian yellowbacks & paperbacks, 1849-1905
digitized
The online edition of this book in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by the Emory University Digital Library Publications Program
Barcode 000011280212
Bitdepth 1
Identifier 21382406.80212.emory.edu
Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t2x37pg0z
Oclc 21382406
Ocr ABBYY FineReader 9.0
Pages 393
Pid 4cmzm
Ppi 300
Worldcat (source edition) 21382406
Full catalog record MARCXML
Collection emory; yellowbacks; americana
Digitizing sponsor Emory University, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
Contributor Emory University, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
Language English
Bound in illustrated paper-covered boards
Date of publication from Topp
Wolff, R.L. 19th cent. fiction
Sadleir, M. 19th cent. fiction
Topp, C.W. Victorian yellowbacks & paperbacks, 1849-1905
digitized
The online edition of this book in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by the Emory University Digital Library Publications Program
Barcode 000011280212
Bitdepth 1
Identifier 21382406.80212.emory.edu
Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t2x37pg0z
Oclc 21382406
Ocr ABBYY FineReader 9.0
Pages 393
Pid 4cmzm
Ppi 300
Worldcat (source edition) 21382406
Full catalog record MARCXML
- GenresClassics
393 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1881
14 people want to read
About the author
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
1,057 books386 followersMary Elizabeth Braddon was a British Victorian era popular novelist. She was an extremely prolific writer, producing some 75 novels with very inventive plots. The most famous one is her first novel, Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and fortune as well. The novel has been in print ever since, and has been dramatised and filmed several times.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 30, 2019
Melancholy story about the unloved daughter of a cold nobleman. Shuffled off to expensive boarding schools from a very early age, Daphne is finally “finished” and allowed to come home. The only one who cares for her is her older half-sister, who is the apple of her father’s eye; but the two sisters do love each other dearly. The story revolves around Daphne’s conflicted feelings toward her own love-sick fiancée, toward her sister’s dashing fiancée, and her abiding love for her sister. Hidden emotions escalate on an extended Swiss vacation tour the beautiful young ladies, their father, both fiancées, and their annoying aunt take, staying at high-class resorts, along with all the trappings of the idle rich. Great descriptions of the lovely landscapes. Originally published in 1875. I listened to this novel as a free download from LibriVox.org.
October 10, 2023
'Asphodel' starts as a variation of 'Romeo and Juliet' but finishes as the story of a pair of unfaithful, if not actually adulterous, lovers. Told with less finesse than other ME Braddon novels, it has a complicated story structure, including the shadow of the past overhanging the present with all the concomitants of betrayal and loss of innocence, and aggravated by jealousy and spite. With these elements, a little basic propriety, a little self-restraint, a touch of commonsense, and this book might never have been.
Unlike some of her other novels, it is hard to empathise with almost any of the characters involved: not that stock Braddon figure, the heavy handed father, or his sister the Rector's wife, as thoroughly unpleasant a woman as could be imagined; nor with the 'perfect' sister, the fair Madoline, who is uncomfortably everything we ourselves are not, beautiful, rich, good and kind; it is hard not to think of her as a conceited prig, but she is not a prig. Her tragedy is that she is just a little complacent about life. Her fiancé, the romantic Gerald 'Nero' Goring is easy to dislike; nor finally, can we identify with the tragic heroine, much as we might pity her, since her own spoilt and imprudent actions have led her to grief. On the other hand, the minor players are drawn with an unerring eye for satire: the gardener, Mr McCloskie; the philandering Rector; the philandering Rector's unforgiving wife; Mrs Turchill, the nearly-hero's mother; and Mowser, the maid who creates mischief.
One idea, that of inherited tendencies, runs strongly in the book. The idea of 'good blood' and 'bad stock' colours the sisters' behaviour: Sir Vernon Lawford himself, the father of both girls, has an impeccable ancestry, as did his first wife, Madoline's mother. Madoline herself who is 'perfection', is of good stock through her parental lineage; but her half-sister Daphne, through her mother, is of impure blood, as is 'Nero', whose ancestry also includes a mistress of Charles II and through whom the family was originally enriched and ennobled, while his father was a self made man, rising from barrow boy/ bargee to an armigerous status. Likewise, the rejected lover, Edgar Turchill is of noble stock on both sides, a 'worthy Saxon', as 'Nero' mockingly calls him, in reference to the ancient lineage of his family name that goes back to the Heptarchy!
The action takes place over nearly three years, during most of which time the hero is absent physically, but present through his letters and the fact that despite his absence, he is present in almost every conversation. The descriptions of Warwickshire in summer and winter are brought to life by a gifted pen. In spite of the slow movement, the tension mounts unbearably until its inevitable end. While Braddon's other books have achieved greater fame, this is a subdued tragedy, but one which seems to say, "You asked for it!"
This book seems to be out of print now, for it is not included even in the Complete Works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Musaicum edition) in my possession. I listened to it on Librivox, while simultaneously reading it on Internet Archive in the 1890 Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent Stereotyped edition (which is probably copied from the actual original edition!) And that was a slog, as we are now used in our degenerate age to a more comfortable font altogether.
Unlike some of her other novels, it is hard to empathise with almost any of the characters involved: not that stock Braddon figure, the heavy handed father, or his sister the Rector's wife, as thoroughly unpleasant a woman as could be imagined; nor with the 'perfect' sister, the fair Madoline, who is uncomfortably everything we ourselves are not, beautiful, rich, good and kind; it is hard not to think of her as a conceited prig, but she is not a prig. Her tragedy is that she is just a little complacent about life. Her fiancé, the romantic Gerald 'Nero' Goring is easy to dislike; nor finally, can we identify with the tragic heroine, much as we might pity her, since her own spoilt and imprudent actions have led her to grief. On the other hand, the minor players are drawn with an unerring eye for satire: the gardener, Mr McCloskie; the philandering Rector; the philandering Rector's unforgiving wife; Mrs Turchill, the nearly-hero's mother; and Mowser, the maid who creates mischief.
One idea, that of inherited tendencies, runs strongly in the book. The idea of 'good blood' and 'bad stock' colours the sisters' behaviour: Sir Vernon Lawford himself, the father of both girls, has an impeccable ancestry, as did his first wife, Madoline's mother. Madoline herself who is 'perfection', is of good stock through her parental lineage; but her half-sister Daphne, through her mother, is of impure blood, as is 'Nero', whose ancestry also includes a mistress of Charles II and through whom the family was originally enriched and ennobled, while his father was a self made man, rising from barrow boy/ bargee to an armigerous status. Likewise, the rejected lover, Edgar Turchill is of noble stock on both sides, a 'worthy Saxon', as 'Nero' mockingly calls him, in reference to the ancient lineage of his family name that goes back to the Heptarchy!
The action takes place over nearly three years, during most of which time the hero is absent physically, but present through his letters and the fact that despite his absence, he is present in almost every conversation. The descriptions of Warwickshire in summer and winter are brought to life by a gifted pen. In spite of the slow movement, the tension mounts unbearably until its inevitable end. While Braddon's other books have achieved greater fame, this is a subdued tragedy, but one which seems to say, "You asked for it!"
This book seems to be out of print now, for it is not included even in the Complete Works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Musaicum edition) in my possession. I listened to it on Librivox, while simultaneously reading it on Internet Archive in the 1890 Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent Stereotyped edition (which is probably copied from the actual original edition!) And that was a slog, as we are now used in our degenerate age to a more comfortable font altogether.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews