We Two

by Edna Lyall

Brian Falls in love.

Still humanity grows dearer,
Bring learned the more.

Jean Ingelow.

There are three things in this world which deserve no quarter - Hypocrisy, Pharisaism, and Tyranny.

People who have been brought up in the country, or in small places where every neighbour is known by sight, are apt to think that life in a large town must lack many of the interests which they have learned to find in their more limited communities. In a somewhat bewildered way, they gaze at the shifting crowd of strange faces, and wonder whether it would be possible to feel completely at home where all the surroundings of life seem ever changing and unfamiliar.

But those who have lived long in one quarter of London, or of any other large town, know that there are in reality almost as many links between the actors of the town life-drama as between those of the country life-drama.

Silent recognitions pass between passengers who meet day after day in the same morning or evening train, on the way to or from work; the faces of omnibus conductors grow familiar; we learn to know perfectly well on what day of the week and at what hour the well-known organ-grinder will make his appearance, and in what street we shall meet the city clerk or the care-worn little daily governess on their way to office or school.

It so happened that Brian Osmond, a young doctor who had not been very long settled in the Bloomsbury regions, had an engagement which took him every afternoon down Gower Street, and here many faces had grown familiar to him.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Edna Lyall was the pseudonym used by Ada Ellen Bayley. Bayly was born in Brighton, the youngest of four children of a barrister. At an early age, she lost both her parents and she spent her youth with an uncle in Surrey and in a Brighton private school. Bayly never married and she seems to have spent her adult life living in with her two married sisters and her brother, a clergyman in Bosbury in Herefordshire. In 1879, she published her first novel, Won by Waiting, under the pen name of "Edna Lyall" (apparently derived from transposing letters from Ada Ellen Bayly). The book was not a success. Success came with We Two, based on the life of Charles Bradlaugh, a social reformer and advocate of free thought. Her historical novel In the Golden Days was the last book read to John Ruskin on his deathbed. Bayly wrote eighteen novels.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting romance. I recall getting bogged down about a third of the way in and setting it aside for a year, but really enjoying it when I returned to it.

It's an interesting tale; Brian sees Erica and is instantly smitten, but she is not an easy girl to win. He must first win her heart for the Gospel, and lest you think that a small thing, her father is a leading atheist of the day, and she is well versed in objections to religion of any sort.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The author has a beautiful way of writing that is very descriptive and captivating even when about the most mundane topics. I really enjoyed her commentary throughout the book and through the plot of the book as a hole on religious tolerance. This is a very powerful tale about a father and daughter, who, despite eventually believing in different creeds, shared a unique bond until the very end. This is also a book about freedom of speech, the importance of religious tolerance, and offers a profound critique on humanity. The author articulates well how some people within Christianity do far more damage to their religion through acts of persecution, all while proclaiming their Christlike nature. The book at the time was written to promote religious tolerance and freedom of speech. One of the best descriptions of the atheist and secular leader Mr. Raeburn, one of the main characters in the book, is the following:

“ I say that a man who worked as he worked, striving hard to teach the people to live for the general good, advocating, temperance, promoting the spread of education, and somehow winning those whom no one else had ever touched to take an intelligent interest in politics, in science, and in the future of the race, that such a man claims our respect, however, much we may disagree with him.”

The book concludes with the observation that the atheist leader, in fact, promoted more Christlike behavior than most Christians at the time for he constantly sought for the good of humanity.

I don’t believe this book promotes Christianity or atheism, but rather a tolerance of all creeds. “We Two” powerfully displays the belief that all people she be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of what they believe.

I would suggest anyone looking to read this book do a little bit of research on the author and stick with the story, it is absolutely worth finishing!

[Jennifer Booth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate it.

The book was long and tedious. The Christian bashing was totally wrong, even for the period when the book was published. Hey, if you are a Christian, do not get this book. It is trash.