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Returned Empty: Enriched edition. A Tale of Love, Loss, and Resilience in Post-War England
'Returned Empty' by Florence L. Barclay is a novel that unfolds with a heartbreaking scene of a baby left on a doorstep with only a label that reads "Returned Empty." The baby is taken to a foundlings' institution where eventually he grows up as Luke Sparrow, a lonely child with sad eyes and a yearning for love. As he grows older, Luke excels in school, but his heart remains closed to others, leaving him feeling like a misfit. The novel follows Luke's journey as he searches for his true identity and a sense of belonging in a world that seems determined to reject him. Will Luke ever find the love and acceptance he desperately craves?
81 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1920
3 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Florence L. Barclay
77 books45 followersShe was born Florence Louisa Charlesworth in Limpsfield, Surrey, England, the daughter of the local Anglican rector. One of three girls, she was a sister to Maud Ballington Booth, the Salvation Army leader and co-founder of the Volunteers of America. When Florence was seven years old, the family moved to Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
In 1881, Florence Charlesworth married the Rev. Charles W. Barclay and honeymooned in the Holy Land, where, in Shechem, they reportedly discovered Jacob's Well, the place where, according to the Gospel of St John, Jesus met the woman of Samaria (John 4-5). Florence Barclay and her husband settled in Hertford Heath, in Hertfordshire, where she fulfilled the duties of a rector's wife. She became the mother of eight children. In her early forties health problems left her bedridden for a time and she passed the hours by writing what became her first romance novel titled The Wheels of Time. Her next novel, The Rosary, a story of undying love, was published in 1909 and its success eventually resulted in its being translated into eight languages and made into five motion pictures, also in several languages. According to the New York Times, the novel was the No.1 bestselling novel of 1910 in the United States. The enduring popularity of the book was such that more than twenty-five years later, Sunday Circle magazine serialized the story and in 1926 the prominent French playwright Alexandre Bisson adapted the book as a three-act play for the Parisian stage.
Florence Barclay wrote eleven books in all, including a work of non-fiction. Her novel The Mistress of Shenstone (1910) was made into a silent film of the same title in 1921. Her short story Under the Mulberry Tree appeared in the special issue called "The Spring Romance Number" of the Ladies Home Journal of 11 May 1911.
Florence Barclay died in 1921 at the age of fifty-eight. The Life of Florence Barclay: a study in personality was published anonymously that year by G. P. Putnam's Sons "by one of Her Daughters.
In 1881, Florence Charlesworth married the Rev. Charles W. Barclay and honeymooned in the Holy Land, where, in Shechem, they reportedly discovered Jacob's Well, the place where, according to the Gospel of St John, Jesus met the woman of Samaria (John 4-5). Florence Barclay and her husband settled in Hertford Heath, in Hertfordshire, where she fulfilled the duties of a rector's wife. She became the mother of eight children. In her early forties health problems left her bedridden for a time and she passed the hours by writing what became her first romance novel titled The Wheels of Time. Her next novel, The Rosary, a story of undying love, was published in 1909 and its success eventually resulted in its being translated into eight languages and made into five motion pictures, also in several languages. According to the New York Times, the novel was the No.1 bestselling novel of 1910 in the United States. The enduring popularity of the book was such that more than twenty-five years later, Sunday Circle magazine serialized the story and in 1926 the prominent French playwright Alexandre Bisson adapted the book as a three-act play for the Parisian stage.
Florence Barclay wrote eleven books in all, including a work of non-fiction. Her novel The Mistress of Shenstone (1910) was made into a silent film of the same title in 1921. Her short story Under the Mulberry Tree appeared in the special issue called "The Spring Romance Number" of the Ladies Home Journal of 11 May 1911.
Florence Barclay died in 1921 at the age of fifty-eight. The Life of Florence Barclay: a study in personality was published anonymously that year by G. P. Putnam's Sons "by one of Her Daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 15, 2021
Disappointing.... didn't understand it and it had a strange ending...
September 10, 2011
I love Florence Barclay so it hurts to give this book one star, but I really didn't like it. Already as a teenager I didn't like it, but I thought I would give it a second chance, but was only confirmed in my sentiment. I do not like this book. Even when it talks about God's will and love, it's message is blurred by the surrounding story. The thought of reincarnation would in it self turn me off, and if the book was meant to be a beautiful love story surpassing even death, in my mind it was just an awful sad story of missed lives.
December 31, 2015
The writing this woman did in her day is by far the most beautiful I have read from this time. She remains a favorite author and this book, I suppose, is the hardest to find in antique stores because it would have been quite shocking during that era.
September 26, 2009
I love Florence Barclay. It hurt to give this one star, but I was pretty disappointed with it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews