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The Recess
First published in an era when most novels about young women concentrated on courtship and ended with marriage, The Recess daringly portrays women involved in political intrigues, overseas journeys, and even warfare. The novel is set during the reign of Elizabeth I and features as narrators twin daughters of Mary, Queen of Scots, by a secret marriage. One of the earliest Gothic novels, The Recess pioneered the genre of historical fiction. The novel was also one of the first to describe characters and events from conflicting points of view and was wildly popular in its day.
"[This] critical edition of The Recess; or, A Tale of Other Times is based on the text of the second edition, published in London by T. Cadell in 1786." - from Notes on the Text
"[This] critical edition of The Recess; or, A Tale of Other Times is based on the text of the second edition, published in London by T. Cadell in 1786." - from Notes on the Text
326 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1783
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471 people want to read
About the author
Sophia Lee
131 books7 followersShe was the daughter of John Lee (died 1781), actor and theatrical manager, and was born in London. Her first piece, The Chapter of Accidents, a three-act opera based on Denis Diderot's Le père de famille, was produced by George Colman the Elder at the Haymarket Theatre on 5 August 1780 and was an immediate success.
When her father died in 1781, Lee spent the proceeds of the opera on establishing a school at Bath, where she made a home for her sisters Anne and Harriet. Her novel The Recess, or a Tale of other Times (1783) was a historical romance; and the play Almeyda, Queen of Grenada (1796) was a long tragedy in blank verse, which opened at Drury Lane on 20 April 1796 but ran for only four nights. The Recess can also be regarded as a formative work of the original Gothic, echoing and pre-dating themes from other contemporary Gothic writers.
With her sister Harriet Lee she wrote a series of Canterbury Tales (1797). Other works included The Life of a Lover (1804) and Ormond; or the Debauchee (1810). She died at her house near Clifton, Bristol on 13 March 1824.
When her father died in 1781, Lee spent the proceeds of the opera on establishing a school at Bath, where she made a home for her sisters Anne and Harriet. Her novel The Recess, or a Tale of other Times (1783) was a historical romance; and the play Almeyda, Queen of Grenada (1796) was a long tragedy in blank verse, which opened at Drury Lane on 20 April 1796 but ran for only four nights. The Recess can also be regarded as a formative work of the original Gothic, echoing and pre-dating themes from other contemporary Gothic writers.
With her sister Harriet Lee she wrote a series of Canterbury Tales (1797). Other works included The Life of a Lover (1804) and Ormond; or the Debauchee (1810). She died at her house near Clifton, Bristol on 13 March 1824.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 6, 2017
A romance with all of the attributes, both thrilling and annoying, of that popular eighteenth century genre.
Merely to warn readers: I sought this out believing it to be a Gothic romance. While it does have the thrills of an adventurous romance, the setting of historical romance, and the episodic nature of any old romance, it doesn't have the supernatural or macabre attributes of a true Gothic, in my opinion. The setting is Elizabethan and not medieval (original meaning of the word Gothic) and, despite the element of space so central to the earliest examples of the Gothic romance--castles, keeps, recesses, and dungeons--the horrors here were the all-too-real. Namely, trials and tribulations of those noble enough to become embroiled in Elizabethan politics, but not strong enough or fortunate enough to weather the conflicts of the age without receiving permanent scars.
So, on the interesting/worth reading side are the painful realities quite frequently depicted in this historical romance--despite the totally unbelievable machinations of fate and coincidence (prime features of the form) the actual suffering and plausible (even historically accurate) imprisonments, beheadings, shipwrecks, turns of fortune, insurrections, pirates, brigands, and many illnesses herein, all combined to give this tale a strong sense of reality through its many descriptions of human--particularly female--suffering than I'm used to reading in more hardcore Gothics. Therefore, although lacking in eerie supernatural chills, I was often outraged and sympathetically touched by the tragic, if thrilling, adventures of the two heroines of The Recess--twin sisters, the late, hidden daughters of the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. Hence the text's republication as a gesture toward contributing to the creation of a female canon. Although a male author might have been able to conceive such a plot, the narrative is so completely sensitive to women, their concerns, interactions, and inter-dependencies, that it's an unmistakably female voice at work. (Now that I think of it, there's a queen instead of a king, a mother, two daughters, another daughter born, and all of the various female friends and female enemies who succor or torture our heroines and then, like mere window dressing, the two men with whom the sisters fall in love. Nice to read a novel in which the male characters are seen only through their lovers' eyes and who function only insomuch as their lovers need them instead of the usual other way around.)
Also quite interesting and, I think, specific to this particular romance, was its radical shifting and blending of various points of view. The text is split about 50/50 between the voices of the two sisters, making it practically two novels in one--or, shall we say, more accurately, a romance that instead of intertwining the tales of two separated lovers, recounts the lives of the two sisters together through one's POV until their separation, then continues with the first-person narrative until it digresses at length with the first person narrative of the other sister's adventures through the reading of a MSS, returning at the end to the first point of view to finish up the tale. Although this might sound awkward to those of us schooled in the more linear novel form, romance allows for such structures and it works here, keeping the rather tedious prose style at least constantly moving through various adventures to hold our interest. Even within the narrative, and the narrative within the narrative, many characters recount for us events not directly witnessed by the sisters, so we get points of view sometimes several times removed from our overall narrator and this actually functions rather smoothly and the various adventures do come together into a convincing whole.
The best part of the various viewpoints is that the two male characters are assessed first through the rose-colored glasses of the women who love them, and then are later re-assessed by the other sister, who does not love them and who therefore presents a more realistic view of their flaws. I really enjoyed both how real this was to human experience and how well it worked within the first person romance form, reminding us that we weren't reading history, or even a novel, but a woman's actual experience--this fiction of the romance was more convincing because of this technique.
But, well, all in all, I prefer real Gothic with actual specters, graveyards, ghouls and demons, so The Recess, a very long romance, grew tedious regardless of its many events. Lee also seems to have a knack for whipping too swiftly through interesting scenes and dragging out certain court plots and coups for too long and I found myself frequently wishing that the narrative would either speed up or slow down. Also, and maybe this is the effect of time slipping by--some 225 years since the novel's publication--but since the text re-arranges history so drastically (as the footnotes attempted to chart as responsibly as possible) I feel like the story might have worked better if it had been totally fictionalized, that is set in a fictional England with a fictional queen. History, to a casual knowledge of the period that's mine, has been pretty kind to Elizabeth so it was difficult to see her as the heavy of this piece.
Merely to warn readers: I sought this out believing it to be a Gothic romance. While it does have the thrills of an adventurous romance, the setting of historical romance, and the episodic nature of any old romance, it doesn't have the supernatural or macabre attributes of a true Gothic, in my opinion. The setting is Elizabethan and not medieval (original meaning of the word Gothic) and, despite the element of space so central to the earliest examples of the Gothic romance--castles, keeps, recesses, and dungeons--the horrors here were the all-too-real. Namely, trials and tribulations of those noble enough to become embroiled in Elizabethan politics, but not strong enough or fortunate enough to weather the conflicts of the age without receiving permanent scars.
So, on the interesting/worth reading side are the painful realities quite frequently depicted in this historical romance--despite the totally unbelievable machinations of fate and coincidence (prime features of the form) the actual suffering and plausible (even historically accurate) imprisonments, beheadings, shipwrecks, turns of fortune, insurrections, pirates, brigands, and many illnesses herein, all combined to give this tale a strong sense of reality through its many descriptions of human--particularly female--suffering than I'm used to reading in more hardcore Gothics. Therefore, although lacking in eerie supernatural chills, I was often outraged and sympathetically touched by the tragic, if thrilling, adventures of the two heroines of The Recess--twin sisters, the late, hidden daughters of the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. Hence the text's republication as a gesture toward contributing to the creation of a female canon. Although a male author might have been able to conceive such a plot, the narrative is so completely sensitive to women, their concerns, interactions, and inter-dependencies, that it's an unmistakably female voice at work. (Now that I think of it, there's a queen instead of a king, a mother, two daughters, another daughter born, and all of the various female friends and female enemies who succor or torture our heroines and then, like mere window dressing, the two men with whom the sisters fall in love. Nice to read a novel in which the male characters are seen only through their lovers' eyes and who function only insomuch as their lovers need them instead of the usual other way around.)
Also quite interesting and, I think, specific to this particular romance, was its radical shifting and blending of various points of view. The text is split about 50/50 between the voices of the two sisters, making it practically two novels in one--or, shall we say, more accurately, a romance that instead of intertwining the tales of two separated lovers, recounts the lives of the two sisters together through one's POV until their separation, then continues with the first-person narrative until it digresses at length with the first person narrative of the other sister's adventures through the reading of a MSS, returning at the end to the first point of view to finish up the tale. Although this might sound awkward to those of us schooled in the more linear novel form, romance allows for such structures and it works here, keeping the rather tedious prose style at least constantly moving through various adventures to hold our interest. Even within the narrative, and the narrative within the narrative, many characters recount for us events not directly witnessed by the sisters, so we get points of view sometimes several times removed from our overall narrator and this actually functions rather smoothly and the various adventures do come together into a convincing whole.
The best part of the various viewpoints is that the two male characters are assessed first through the rose-colored glasses of the women who love them, and then are later re-assessed by the other sister, who does not love them and who therefore presents a more realistic view of their flaws. I really enjoyed both how real this was to human experience and how well it worked within the first person romance form, reminding us that we weren't reading history, or even a novel, but a woman's actual experience--this fiction of the romance was more convincing because of this technique.
But, well, all in all, I prefer real Gothic with actual specters, graveyards, ghouls and demons, so The Recess, a very long romance, grew tedious regardless of its many events. Lee also seems to have a knack for whipping too swiftly through interesting scenes and dragging out certain court plots and coups for too long and I found myself frequently wishing that the narrative would either speed up or slow down. Also, and maybe this is the effect of time slipping by--some 225 years since the novel's publication--but since the text re-arranges history so drastically (as the footnotes attempted to chart as responsibly as possible) I feel like the story might have worked better if it had been totally fictionalized, that is set in a fictional England with a fictional queen. History, to a casual knowledge of the period that's mine, has been pretty kind to Elizabeth so it was difficult to see her as the heavy of this piece.
May 14, 2021
There are no happy endings here. Gothic tropes (seduction, castles in varying states of decay, predatory men, innocent women, kidnapping) that were just becoming popular in the late 18th century are transplanted from their traditional homes in Italy and Spain to 16th century England and the court of Queen Elizabeth as the two (fictitious) daughters of Mary, Queen of Scotland attempt to navigate a political landscape fraught with false friends and men who shouldn't be trusted.
If there's a "moral" to this story, and 18th century novels were all about teaching lessons on some level, it seems to be that no men but those who have devoted their lives to the priesthood should be wholly trusted.
Told through letters and prone to leaps in time or point of view without obvious signposting, The Recess could be tricky for the casual Austen aficionado, but it's a rewarding read for those who are willing to wade through it.
If there's a "moral" to this story, and 18th century novels were all about teaching lessons on some level, it seems to be that no men but those who have devoted their lives to the priesthood should be wholly trusted.
Told through letters and prone to leaps in time or point of view without obvious signposting, The Recess could be tricky for the casual Austen aficionado, but it's a rewarding read for those who are willing to wade through it.
April 5, 2020
This book, written in 1785, is not an easy read. The writing is very old style and requires close reading to understand. The story is quite interesting, with a mix of fictional and historic figures. There is a lot of fainting and swooning and crying - the women were depicted as very emotional but also very strong with enduring life's trials. The men they fell in love with were not very admirable - vain and weak and more concerned with their pride and honor than the women they claim to love.
Glad I read this finally but it was a very slow read. Not the book for most.
Glad I read this finally but it was a very slow read. Not the book for most.
September 7, 2016
Pros: Beautiful writing; every silly Gothic trope under the sun (I of course count this as a plus); heroines that - by 18th Century standards - are positive dynamos of determination and agency; no trees.
Cons: Highly dodgy history; poor romantic choices, all in a row; a deadening misery-memoir tendency for nothing nice to happen to anyone ever; O!s and em dashes.
Early in Part III, Our Heroine - who has already gone through so many trials and miseries and intrigues and swoons that it's a source of vague wonder that she hasn't already OD'd on laudanum on principle - writes:
And, alas! madam, she is totally correct. Over the remaining three and a half Parts - only 200 or so pages, but it's a long ride - Our Heroine, her sister, her daughter and apparently every friend they ever make bounce from calamity to calamity until everybody is insane, dead, or both, with the only variety being in the scene changes. Then it ends.
I suppose you could argue that the opening lines were sufficient warning:
Some of you are probably now scoffing at my calling this 'beautiful writing'. All I can say is that a) it's a clear head and shoulders above most of the other 18th Century novel-writing I've subjected myself to in the last few years, and b) the moments when the prose's quiet lyricism and the text's OTT thrashing combine result in some of the most entertaining and weirdly powerful sentences I've encountered anywhere:
METAL.
Cons: Highly dodgy history; poor romantic choices, all in a row; a deadening misery-memoir tendency for nothing nice to happen to anyone ever; O!s and em dashes.
Early in Part III, Our Heroine - who has already gone through so many trials and miseries and intrigues and swoons that it's a source of vague wonder that she hasn't already OD'd on laudanum on principle - writes:
Alas! madam, this night of promised peace proved the aera in my life.
And, alas! madam, she is totally correct. Over the remaining three and a half Parts - only 200 or so pages, but it's a long ride - Our Heroine, her sister, her daughter and apparently every friend they ever make bounce from calamity to calamity until everybody is insane, dead, or both, with the only variety being in the scene changes. Then it ends.
I suppose you could argue that the opening lines were sufficient warning:
After a long and painful journey through life, with a heart exhausted by afflictions, and eyes which can no longer supply tears to lament them, I turn my every thought toward that grave on the verge of which I hover. Oh! why then, too generous friend, require me to live over my misfortunes? Such has been the peculiarity of my fate, that though tortured with the possession and the loss of every tye and hope that exalts or endears humanity, let but this feeble frame be covered with the dust from which it sprung, and no trace of my ever having existed would remain, except in the wounded consciences of those who marked me out a solitary victim to the crimes of my progenitors: For surely I could never merit by my own the misery of living as I have done—of dying as I must do.
Alas! your partial affection demands a memorial which calls back to being all the sad images buried in my bosom, and opens anew every vein of my heart. Yet consummate misery has a moral use, and if ever these sheets reach the publick, let the repiner at little evils learn to be juster to his God and himself, by unavoidable comparison. But am I not assuming an insolent consequence in thus admonishing? Alas, it is the dear-bought privilege of the unfortunate to be tedious!
Some of you are probably now scoffing at my calling this 'beautiful writing'. All I can say is that a) it's a clear head and shoulders above most of the other 18th Century novel-writing I've subjected myself to in the last few years, and b) the moments when the prose's quiet lyricism and the text's OTT thrashing combine result in some of the most entertaining and weirdly powerful sentences I've encountered anywhere:
A terrible calm succeeded my intense desperation — the blood which had tumultuously burnt along every vein, now returned in torrents, to choak up, and drown my heart. — The black fumes mounted thence to my brain. — With a grief-glazed eye, I contemplated the pale and precious cheek from whose rich colouring I of late drew life, till ignorant that I either suffered, or existed.
METAL.
June 24, 2023
The Recess was clearly very influential on the Gothic genre, but I'm not sure how satisfying it is as a Gothic novel from a modern perspective. Out of all the big Gothic classics I've read so far, Sophia Lee's brand of Gothic is definitely closest to Ann Radcliffe's, so I wasn't surprised to read that Radcliffe was strongly influenced by this book. They're both a comparatively grounded and subdued sort of Gothic, except Lee is even more reticent with the supernatural than Radcliffe, which is to say there's none at all.
Which is part of the reason why I'm unsure how Gothic The Recess really is from a modern perspective, if we consider the genre to be defined by the more popular later classics. Without the supernatural or any real sense of terror or horror, sometimes it feels more like an early historical novel, where the most Gothic things about it are some of the settings and the narrative of a pair of eternally victimised and fleeing heroines.
Still, whatever the case may be, the story itself is pretty engaging if a bit drawn out. Just like Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho, it is too long, but unlike Radcliffe, it doesn't feel bloated or overwritten on a page to page basis. Perhaps that's in part due to the narrative, which is full of political intrigue. Ellinor's part of the story is especially fun, probably because she's the more interesting character of the two.
What was most memorable here, though, was the perspective shifts between the two heroines, and the way their stories contradicted each other and even completely upended each other's views of their love interests, especially Leicester. The result is a pair of genuinely ambiguous characters (Leicester and Essex) that Lee allows to remain so, so you never get a firm answer as to which sister's narrative is more reliable.
Overall, I'm glad I read this, but it's hardly an essential Gothic novel in the way the most famous ones are, though it is an intriguing one, especially with its ambiguity. The most I can say is that I'd definitely recommend it if you really want to dive deep and study the Gothic or historical fiction, not just read it for fun.
Which is part of the reason why I'm unsure how Gothic The Recess really is from a modern perspective, if we consider the genre to be defined by the more popular later classics. Without the supernatural or any real sense of terror or horror, sometimes it feels more like an early historical novel, where the most Gothic things about it are some of the settings and the narrative of a pair of eternally victimised and fleeing heroines.
Still, whatever the case may be, the story itself is pretty engaging if a bit drawn out. Just like Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho, it is too long, but unlike Radcliffe, it doesn't feel bloated or overwritten on a page to page basis. Perhaps that's in part due to the narrative, which is full of political intrigue. Ellinor's part of the story is especially fun, probably because she's the more interesting character of the two.
What was most memorable here, though, was the perspective shifts between the two heroines, and the way their stories contradicted each other and even completely upended each other's views of their love interests, especially Leicester. The result is a pair of genuinely ambiguous characters (Leicester and Essex) that Lee allows to remain so, so you never get a firm answer as to which sister's narrative is more reliable.
Overall, I'm glad I read this, but it's hardly an essential Gothic novel in the way the most famous ones are, though it is an intriguing one, especially with its ambiguity. The most I can say is that I'd definitely recommend it if you really want to dive deep and study the Gothic or historical fiction, not just read it for fun.
October 11, 2023
Em minha aventura de explorar as histórias pioneiras do gênero gótico, deparei-me, em "The Recess", com a obra mais difícil de ler até o momento. O enredo é compreensível, mas a linguagem da época torna difícil a imersão do leitor, e muitos detalhes acabam sendo perdidos na tentativa de ao menos entender para onde os personagens estão sendo conduzidos. É possível identificar os elementos góticos nas irmãs gêmeas presas a vida toda em um local recluso, e na sombria trama que envolve sua verdadeira linhagem familiar. Contudo, a forma como a história é contada não me agrada. A autora, ao invés de desenvolver o enredo de forma dinâmica, faz com que os personagens descrevam detalhadamente ao leitor seu passado e justifiquem situações atuais. Ao contrariar o princípio do "mostrar, não contar", a autora faz com que a leitura se torne maçante demais para alguém que está buscando ler pelo entretenimento, e a própria ambientação perde toda a vitalidade. Costumo dar a nota mínima somente para livros que não consigo terminar, e esse é um dos casos: não consegui ler mais do que 15% do livro.
October 7, 2020
why is this book SO CONFUSING
wrote my masters thesis on it and never want to even look at it ever again
wrote my masters thesis on it and never want to even look at it ever again
Read
March 11, 2021Hasta la página 40 nada más, para ver como Lee narraba la vida de Mary Scott.
October 24, 2013
I read this book for an English lit course on the rise of the historical novel. Once I got past the *glaring* historical inaccuracies, I found it fairly entertaining.
The titular Recess is the hiding place for the twin illegitimate daughters of Mary, Queen of Scots. The first-person narrator, Matilda, is writing a letter to her friend, Adelaide, talking about her adventures in the recess and at court ... including her marriage to Robert Dudley, Lord Leicester.
This is one of the earliest historical/gothic novels, and its prose is a little on the florid side for a modern readership. However, the author brings us into her tale of intrigue at Elizabeth I's court in a lively and entertaining fashion.
The titular Recess is the hiding place for the twin illegitimate daughters of Mary, Queen of Scots. The first-person narrator, Matilda, is writing a letter to her friend, Adelaide, talking about her adventures in the recess and at court ... including her marriage to Robert Dudley, Lord Leicester.
This is one of the earliest historical/gothic novels, and its prose is a little on the florid side for a modern readership. However, the author brings us into her tale of intrigue at Elizabeth I's court in a lively and entertaining fashion.
March 3, 2015
A historical-fiction, gothic novel narrated by the twin illegitimate daughters of the condemned Mary, Queen of Scots. I mean, do I need to write anything else here?
There's literally everything: murder, kidnapping, secrets, intrigue, an evil Queen Elizabeth I, babies, marriages, insanity, prison...the list could go on. It might not be too well written (it needs some editing and a better edition--this is the only one), but it's well worth the read for all the craziness. Sophia Lee is one of the founding writers in the gothic movement and that newness and experimentation shows here in the rawness of her writing.
There's literally everything: murder, kidnapping, secrets, intrigue, an evil Queen Elizabeth I, babies, marriages, insanity, prison...the list could go on. It might not be too well written (it needs some editing and a better edition--this is the only one), but it's well worth the read for all the craziness. Sophia Lee is one of the founding writers in the gothic movement and that newness and experimentation shows here in the rawness of her writing.
November 21, 2015
I read this for a Historical Fiction class. It's an example of an early attempt at the budding genre based around the idea: what if Mary, Queen of Scots, didn't miscarry twins and they actually survived to adulthood? How would that disrupt Elizabeth's reign?
The story also has a bit of a Gothic Romance flare to it, with some insanity, poisoning, secret love, verboten love, etc. I enjoyed the writing and the concept of the story; in fact I was only to read 40 pages of it but ended up tearing through the whole thing. Some eyebrows were raised, but eh. Read it! It's fun and you can find it online for free, so that's a win.
The story also has a bit of a Gothic Romance flare to it, with some insanity, poisoning, secret love, verboten love, etc. I enjoyed the writing and the concept of the story; in fact I was only to read 40 pages of it but ended up tearing through the whole thing. Some eyebrows were raised, but eh. Read it! It's fun and you can find it online for free, so that's a win.
April 18, 2017
Read for Brit Lit II
Pretty bad writing style (but that was the time). The plot idea had potential, but it pretty much crashed and burned. But at least I could follow it (which is more than I can say for most of my classmates).
Pretty bad writing style (but that was the time). The plot idea had potential, but it pretty much crashed and burned. But at least I could follow it (which is more than I can say for most of my classmates).
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews