From Out the Vasty Deep

by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Mrs. Belloc Lowndes (Adelaide Julie Elizabeth Renée) (1868-1947) who wrote under the pen name Philip Curtin was a British author who wrote The Philosophy of the Marquise (1899), His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII (1901), The Prince and Princess of Wales (1902), The Heart of Penelope (1904), Barbara Rebell (1905), The Pulse of A Story of a Passing Life (1908), Studies in Wives (1909), The Uttermost Farthing (1910), When No Man Pursueth (1910), Jane Oglander (1911), Mary Pechell (1912), The Chink in the Armour (1912), The Lodger (1913), Studies in Love and in Terror (1913), The End of Her Honeymoon (1913), Price of Admiralty (1915), Told in Gallant A Child's History of the War (1915), A Part of Her Life (1916), Good Old Anna (1916), The Red Cross Barge (1916), Love and Hatred (1917), Out of the War? (1918), From Out the Vasty Deep (1921), The Lonely House (1920), What Timmy Did (1921), Why They Married (1923), The Terriford Mystery (1924), Some Men and Women (1925), What Really Happened (1926), The Story of Ivy (1927) and Love's Revenge (1929).

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Horror, Fantasy

252 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes, née Belloc (5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), was a prolific English novelist.

Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incident with psychological interest. Two of her works were adapted for the screen.

Born in Marylebone, London and raised in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, Mrs Belloc Lowndes was the only daughter of French barrister Louis Belloc and English feminist Bessie Parkes. Her younger brother was Hilaire Belloc, whom she wrote of in her last work, The Young Hilaire Belloc (published posthumously in 1956). Her paternal grandfather was the French painter Jean-Hilaire Belloc, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Joseph Priestley. In 1896, she married Frederick Sawrey A. Lowndes (1868–1940). Her mother died in 1925, 53 years after her father.

She published a biography, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: An Account of His Career, in 1898. From then on, she published novels, reminiscences, and plays at the rate of one per year until 1946. In the memoir, I, too, Have Lived in Arcadia (1942), she told the story of her mother's life, compiled largely from old family letters and her own memories of her early life in France. A second autobiography Where love and friendship dwelt, appeared posthumously in 1948.

She died 14 November 1947 at the home of her elder daughter, Countess Iddesleigh (wife of the third Earl) in Eversley Cross, Hampshire, and was interred in France, in La Celle-Saint-Cloud near Versailles, where she spent her youth.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Andréa · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a "what's going to happen?" than a "whodunnit?"

[Bill Bame · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an excellent book. It has the paranormal, it has romance, it has mystery, and it has intrigue. If your looking for action this isn't your book, it's character driven. I could see it on PBS. The ending comes quick but not the fireworks that is the modern, over the top style of present day.

[Luann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1920, back when the “rules” for writing were not quite as stringent, so you’ll find quite a bit of “head hopping”here. That said, in spite of the abrupt switches in POV, sometimes from sentence to sentence, this book is a winner. It is part mystery (albeit a bit predictable), part character study, and all wonderful if you love old fashioned novels. It reminded me a great deal of Edith Wharton, just not quite as well done. I happen to love the era, the tone, and the ambience so give this novel thumbs up and four stars. I’d give it five but it was a bit predictable and not quite as vivid as Wharton.

[Kaye Wolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like English eriters you will like this. Fun read.