What do you think?
Rate this book
Through One Administration
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Through One Administration Frances Hodgson Burnett, Cairns Collection of American Women Writers Frederick Warne, 1881
Hardcover
Published June 1, 1969
66 people want to read
About the author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1,805 books4,961 followersFrances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 26, 2019
Read this book for the history of American politics, and the history of marriage, courtship, and womens' roles and rights. The story takes place in the parlor parties of Washington DC elite throughout one political administration as the title implies. Woven into a "romance" story is a critique of marriage and courtship, and that is mixed in with the wheeling and dealings of early American politics from the woman's perspective, which the author apparently drew on her own experiences to write since she had lived in DC and participated in the parlor politics of the 1870s. If you like Jane Austen novels for the analysis and critique society rules and gender roles relating to courtship and marriage, you're likely to find things to like in this book, though it's view of relationships is darker. The main theme is that successful marriage depending on timing/chance. Meeting the right person at the right time can lead to a successful marriage, but the opposite is also very true and leads to miserable marriages. If you do pick this book up, be aware that there is a lot of racism, especially towards Native Americans.
April 27, 2020
The bits about the machinations of politics were a relief from the characters' unrelenting repression of emotion. I liked Arbuthnot, who true to his name, had the aloof wit of an Oscar Wildean or P.G. Wodehousean character.
May 7, 2019
A stoic young man stays with a professor one summer before going West to fight Indians. In that brief space of time he forges a loving friendship with the elderly professor and connects with the professor's beautiful young daughter, Bertha. Years later, still half in love with Bertha, Tendennis returns to Washington DC and sees her again. She is a married mother of three, and lovelier than ever.
I was confused and frustrated through much of this book. First, I don't like any of the characters. Burnett is usually good at crafting characters (think of The Secret Garden; you immediately can describe every single character's personality, even if you read last read that book in childhood), but these felt amorphous and interchangeable. By the very end Bertha and Tendennis are a little rounded out, but not so much that if I read a paragraph of dialog from either that I'd definitively be able to identify who was who. Second--and this is not Burnett's fault--I just could not wrap my head around what was happening. I kept getting confused about who was in love and what were the ~dangers various wise old characters were hedging around about. Everyone speaks in such vague terms that I was continually at a loss. I think what happens is: Basically it was like if Henry James and a sensational pop novel had a boring and frustratingly sentimental baby.
Also, I can't help it, I'm a modern reader. I spent the middle third of the novel unsure whether Amory, Arbuthnot, and Bertha were in a happy triad:
I was confused and frustrated through much of this book. First, I don't like any of the characters. Burnett is usually good at crafting characters (think of The Secret Garden; you immediately can describe every single character's personality, even if you read last read that book in childhood), but these felt amorphous and interchangeable. By the very end Bertha and Tendennis are a little rounded out, but not so much that if I read a paragraph of dialog from either that I'd definitively be able to identify who was who. Second--and this is not Burnett's fault--I just could not wrap my head around what was happening. I kept getting confused about who was in love and what were the ~dangers various wise old characters were hedging around about. Everyone speaks in such vague terms that I was continually at a loss. I think what happens is: Basically it was like if Henry James and a sensational pop novel had a boring and frustratingly sentimental baby.
Also, I can't help it, I'm a modern reader. I spent the middle third of the novel unsure whether Amory, Arbuthnot, and Bertha were in a happy triad:
August 13, 2019
My favourite Mrs. Burnett's written for grown-up novels
In the course of reading, one may find many books that are good, or interesting, or satisfactory; but if one is lucky enough, one may meet with just a few books that just stay and grow in one’s mind. For me Through One Administration is one of those very few.
Written by the author of the classics A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, and yet this book is scarcely known and I could find almost no information about it but a couple of skimpy summaries. Therefore I had not known what to expect, and certainly had not imagined finding myself still thinking about it after a second reading.
This book has an air very close to Anna Karenina and La Dame aux Camélias, without the degradation in the former, or the redemption in the later. The two protagonists, grounded by social conventions and moral consciousness, never did convey their feelings to the other till the very end. On the out set, this book may appear less destructive than the other two; yet since their love though mutual never acknowledged, it could be more poignant and even more tragic depends on one’s point of view.
As a book, this is what I would call flawless. The plot, the prose, the details is just what you could expect from a mature writer as F. H. Burnett. Although being voluminous, the story, captivating and beautiful, engages reader’s attention to the very last page. This book also represents F. H. Burnett talent in portraying human beings both externally and internally with humane extreme complexity.
Some may find this book being too sentimental. I did find it packed with emotional and sadness. It filled me with heavy but not uncomfortable emotions. One cannot help being captured and entwined in the characters’ minds and feel for them and love them and love whom they love to the point of aching.
Rarely, even in fiction, that one encounters a figure as moving and chivalrous as Tredennis. Maybe because his reasons and weakness and pains depicted vividly in a very feminine voice contrasting sharply with his rigid military appearance and bearing that makes readers feel his pains more acutely.
He is a man of his word. On the night when he gave Bertha her first bouquet of heliotrope, he said “I wish I could ensure the- happiness for you”. And through out the book, every though, every action, every speech he made is solely for that purpose.
It was a torture for him to stand by seeing her being unhappy and could do nothing because he had not the right to do so. Nonetheless he chose to stand by her, despise being pushed away and deliberately hurt by her, to do anything that he imagined could shield her from further unhappiness. Even when she was furthest away from him, he never falter,
“You will never hold out your hand to me when I shall not ready to take it.”
For me this is the most poetic line about love ever written.
His words is like himself, simple, plain, and strong and reliable.
The irony here is that while her unhappiness is what draws him to her, his being close to her contributes to the reason of her unhappiness. Readers could not tell exactly when did she recognize his feelings but it must not be long after she realized her own. She tried in vain to subdue hers while pushing him away giving him and herself numerous wounds. As for him, the moment he realized her feelings, he left her side because it was the only choice.
It may seem as if the author made these two characters unhappy on purpose, given the situation, being together or apart, they would be equally miserable. Unless one is fortunate enough to be able to end an unhappy marriage by widowhood (as Agnes Sylvestre was) or by dying oneself, one must learn to be content with it, and this task would be still bearable if one does not unfortunately learn to care for another person.
“Better that her life should be barren to the end than that she should bear what she must bear if her heart is once awakened.”
Overly dramatic as it may seem, it is plain reality.
“…that the experience of a woman of forty is what a girl needs when she chooses her husband at twenty”
Cynical as it may seem, this statement about marriage remain true till modern day. Sad as it is, this book is a satisfactory read, for everything about it is beautiful. Its prose is graceful, its characters, main and minor alike, are lovely people with noble hearts; there are moments of blissful happiness that would warm the readers’ heart.
I cannot recommend this book enough, but if one read and love the story, then one may look up the word Heliotrope and be delighted in its meaning.
In the course of reading, one may find many books that are good, or interesting, or satisfactory; but if one is lucky enough, one may meet with just a few books that just stay and grow in one’s mind. For me Through One Administration is one of those very few.
Written by the author of the classics A Little Princess and The Secret Garden, and yet this book is scarcely known and I could find almost no information about it but a couple of skimpy summaries. Therefore I had not known what to expect, and certainly had not imagined finding myself still thinking about it after a second reading.
This book has an air very close to Anna Karenina and La Dame aux Camélias, without the degradation in the former, or the redemption in the later. The two protagonists, grounded by social conventions and moral consciousness, never did convey their feelings to the other till the very end. On the out set, this book may appear less destructive than the other two; yet since their love though mutual never acknowledged, it could be more poignant and even more tragic depends on one’s point of view.
As a book, this is what I would call flawless. The plot, the prose, the details is just what you could expect from a mature writer as F. H. Burnett. Although being voluminous, the story, captivating and beautiful, engages reader’s attention to the very last page. This book also represents F. H. Burnett talent in portraying human beings both externally and internally with humane extreme complexity.
Some may find this book being too sentimental. I did find it packed with emotional and sadness. It filled me with heavy but not uncomfortable emotions. One cannot help being captured and entwined in the characters’ minds and feel for them and love them and love whom they love to the point of aching.
Rarely, even in fiction, that one encounters a figure as moving and chivalrous as Tredennis. Maybe because his reasons and weakness and pains depicted vividly in a very feminine voice contrasting sharply with his rigid military appearance and bearing that makes readers feel his pains more acutely.
He is a man of his word. On the night when he gave Bertha her first bouquet of heliotrope, he said “I wish I could ensure the- happiness for you”. And through out the book, every though, every action, every speech he made is solely for that purpose.
It was a torture for him to stand by seeing her being unhappy and could do nothing because he had not the right to do so. Nonetheless he chose to stand by her, despise being pushed away and deliberately hurt by her, to do anything that he imagined could shield her from further unhappiness. Even when she was furthest away from him, he never falter,
“You will never hold out your hand to me when I shall not ready to take it.”
For me this is the most poetic line about love ever written.
His words is like himself, simple, plain, and strong and reliable.
The irony here is that while her unhappiness is what draws him to her, his being close to her contributes to the reason of her unhappiness. Readers could not tell exactly when did she recognize his feelings but it must not be long after she realized her own. She tried in vain to subdue hers while pushing him away giving him and herself numerous wounds. As for him, the moment he realized her feelings, he left her side because it was the only choice.
It may seem as if the author made these two characters unhappy on purpose, given the situation, being together or apart, they would be equally miserable. Unless one is fortunate enough to be able to end an unhappy marriage by widowhood (as Agnes Sylvestre was) or by dying oneself, one must learn to be content with it, and this task would be still bearable if one does not unfortunately learn to care for another person.
“Better that her life should be barren to the end than that she should bear what she must bear if her heart is once awakened.”
Overly dramatic as it may seem, it is plain reality.
“…that the experience of a woman of forty is what a girl needs when she chooses her husband at twenty”
Cynical as it may seem, this statement about marriage remain true till modern day. Sad as it is, this book is a satisfactory read, for everything about it is beautiful. Its prose is graceful, its characters, main and minor alike, are lovely people with noble hearts; there are moments of blissful happiness that would warm the readers’ heart.
I cannot recommend this book enough, but if one read and love the story, then one may look up the word Heliotrope and be delighted in its meaning.
Read
March 12, 2024Has all the marks of an American version of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? and series. Not what I want today.
September 30, 2019
This novel is a fascinating - and while it contains many aspects of her adult writing that are familiar to us fans of the adult novels there are a few differences which make it notable. An underlying theme of how even strong women were not in control of their destiny at the time plays strongly through this story. It must have been an underlying interest of hers.
The setting is a single administration of a US President and the changes wrought in a DC enclave during that period. It reflects her own time in Washington and clearly is influenced by things she saw come to pass there.
One of the notable differences is that there is no happy ending for most of these characters - it was a smart decision. It would have been too unrealistic. Also it was interesting to have her set a story entirely in the United States - no time in Europe or Britain. It is a very American story.
I rate it highly and was sorry to see it end! Enjoy!
Meanwhile I have reviewed numerous of her other adult novels on my blog which can be found by searching Pams-Pictorama.com or you can find the first of my reviews at: https://pams-pictorama.com/2019/07/21...
The setting is a single administration of a US President and the changes wrought in a DC enclave during that period. It reflects her own time in Washington and clearly is influenced by things she saw come to pass there.
One of the notable differences is that there is no happy ending for most of these characters - it was a smart decision. It would have been too unrealistic. Also it was interesting to have her set a story entirely in the United States - no time in Europe or Britain. It is a very American story.
I rate it highly and was sorry to see it end! Enjoy!
Meanwhile I have reviewed numerous of her other adult novels on my blog which can be found by searching Pams-Pictorama.com or you can find the first of my reviews at: https://pams-pictorama.com/2019/07/21...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2023
This was my first of Burnett's novels for adults. In a luxurious 567 pages, written in 1883, four characters were intimately analyzed, passions grew over seasons, horrifying revelations gradually came to light -- all in all, a slow burn that compelled me to drop all else to keep reading the pages on my stupid tiny cellphone. Worth going nearly blind for this. And the lovingly detailed politics in Washington DC were exactly the same as they are today. A really good book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews