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Love and Life: An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume
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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.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1880
11 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Mary Yonge
707 books73 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 20, 2025
An absolutely spellbinding retelling of Cupid and Psyche! I was completely riveted throughout the whole book, and especially the second half.
CMY has done it again—such incredible depth of character and so many moving spiritual truths and moments scattered throughout the book. Aurelia is a wonderfully nuanced heroine—and Yonge miraculously makes her vulnerable without making her weak. She has such a gift with characterization!
With all of her trademark skill at crafting a story of rich family history (and in this case, quite a dramatic family history!), complex relational challenges, injustice, and ultimately redemption through acts and choices of faithfulness and virtue, this is a CMY not to be missed! And as if all that wasn’t enough, this one even contains pirates, rat-infested mouldering houses, sleeping potions, hidden and mistaken identities, detective work, and triplets named Faith, Hope, and Charity!
I mean, what’s not to love?!
CMY has done it again—such incredible depth of character and so many moving spiritual truths and moments scattered throughout the book. Aurelia is a wonderfully nuanced heroine—and Yonge miraculously makes her vulnerable without making her weak. She has such a gift with characterization!
With all of her trademark skill at crafting a story of rich family history (and in this case, quite a dramatic family history!), complex relational challenges, injustice, and ultimately redemption through acts and choices of faithfulness and virtue, this is a CMY not to be missed! And as if all that wasn’t enough, this one even contains pirates, rat-infested mouldering houses, sleeping potions, hidden and mistaken identities, detective work, and triplets named Faith, Hope, and Charity!
I mean, what’s not to love?!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2025
What a rip-roaring good read! This was my first historical fiction by Charlotte Mary Yonge and at times it was almost a Wilkie Collins’ novel for sheer melodramatic (in the BEST way!) plot twists! What a fun book with a great group of buddy readers! Even being set in the 18th century couldn’t make me take away any stars. (Seriously the fashions in that century…frightful!)
October 31, 2025
This book was such a good time! As always, CMY's characters are dynamic and endearing. Aurelia is a fantastic protagonist, and I loved following her story. Love and Life has so many melodramatic plot twists that I did not want to put this book down. I highly recommend this one!
October 30, 2025
3.5 stars
I apologize to my CMY friends who love her. I think I just need to stick to her more domestic/family type novels. I did enjoy the story and wanted to see where the plot went while I was reading it, but if I had a really hard time picking it up to read and found myself picking up my phone more than the kobo to read, because I kept putting it off. That has not been the case with The Heir of Redclyffe by Yonge. Once I was encouraged to stick with it and gave it several chapters, I was hooked and it was all I wanted to read.
If you are interested in a retelling of Cupid and Psyche though, I know you would enjoy this book.
I apologize to my CMY friends who love her. I think I just need to stick to her more domestic/family type novels. I did enjoy the story and wanted to see where the plot went while I was reading it, but if I had a really hard time picking it up to read and found myself picking up my phone more than the kobo to read, because I kept putting it off. That has not been the case with The Heir of Redclyffe by Yonge. Once I was encouraged to stick with it and gave it several chapters, I was hooked and it was all I wanted to read.
If you are interested in a retelling of Cupid and Psyche though, I know you would enjoy this book.
October 19, 2025
I realize this was based on a myth but I found the book mostly strange. It had some hilarious quotes, but mostly I kept asking myself, "but, why, though?"
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews