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Three Weeks #1
Three Weeks
This hugely enjoyable novel, a scandalous success in 1907, is even today, startling for its enthusiastic depiction of female sensuality. One of Virago’s trio of turn-of-the-century erotic best-sellers, with E M Hull’s The Sheik and M Dell’s The Way of an Eagle, it shows Paul Verdayne, the ‘perfect young English animal’, fascinated by a mysterious beauty at his Swiss hotel. Surrounded by tuberoses and tigerskins, ‘the Lady’ teaches him the arts of love, and gives him three weeks of tempestuous passion. Then, weeping, she renounces him and disappears, and amid high drama Paul finally discovers her august and tragic secret...
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1907
56 people are currently reading
691 people want to read
About the author
Elinor Glyn
231 books34 followersElinor Sutherland was born in St Helier, Jersey, the younger daughter of Douglas Sutherland (1838–1865), a civil engineer of Scottish descent, and his wife Elinor Saunders (1841–1937).
Her father died when Elinor was two months old and her mother returned to the parental home in Guelph, Ontario, Canada with her two daughters, Lucy Christiana and Elinor.
Back in Canada, Elinor was schooled by her grandmother, Lucy Anne Saunders, in the ways of upper-class society. This early training not only gave her an entrée into aristocratic circles on her return to Europe, but it led to her being considered an authority on style and breeding when she worked in Hollywood in the 1920s.
Her mother remarried a Mr. Kennedy in 1871 and when Elinor was eight years old the family returned to Jersey. When there her schooling continued at home with a succession of governesses.
Elinor married Clayton Louis Glyn (1857–1915), a wealthy but spendthrift landowner, on 27 April 1892. The couple had two daughters, Margot and Juliet, but the marriage apparently foundered on mutual incompatibility although the couple remained together.
As a consequence Elinor had affairs with a succession of British aristocrats and some of her books are supposedly based on her various affairs, such as 'Three Weeks' (1907), allegedly inspired by her affair with Lord Alistair Innes Ker. That affair caused quite a furore and scandalized Edwardian society and one of the scenes in the book had one unnamed poet writing,
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?
She had began her writing in 1900, starting with a book based on letters to her mother, 'The Visits of Elizabeth'. And thereafter she more or less wrote one book each year to keep the wolf from the door, as her husband was debt-ridden from 1908, and also to keep up her standard of living. After several years of illness her husband died in 1915.
Early in her writing career she was recognised as one of the pioneers of what could be called erotic fiction, although not by modern-day standards, and she coined the use of the world 'It' to mean at the time sex-appeal and she helped to make Clara Bow a star by the use of the sobriquet for her of 'The It Girl'.
On the strength of her reputation and success she moved to Hollywood in 1920 and in 1921 was featured as one of the famous personalities in a Ralph Barton cartoon drawn especially for 'Vanity Fair' magazine.
A number of her books were made into films, most notably 'Beyond the Rocks' (1906), which starred Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson, and she was a scriptwriter for the silent movie industry, working for both MGM and Paramount Pictures in the mid-1920s. In addition she also had a brief career as one of the earliest female directors.
In 1927, by which time she had published 32 novels, she once again appeared in some verse of the day. Songsmith Lorenz Hart immortalised her in his song 'My Heart Stood Still' when he wrote,
I read my Plato
Love, I thought a sin
But since your kiss
I'm reading missus Glyn!
She was so universally popular and well-known in the 1920s that she even made a cameo appearance as herself in the 1928 film 'Show People'.
As well as her novels, she wrote wrote magazine articles for the Hearst Press giving advice on 'how to keep your man' and also giving health and beauty tips. In 1922 she published 'The Elinor Glyn System of Writing', which gives an insight into writing for Hollywood studios and magazine editors.
In later life she moved to the United Kingdom, settling in London. She wrote over 40 books, the last of which was 'The Third Eye' (1940) and she died in Chelsea on 23 September 1943, being survived by her two daughters.
Gerry Wolstenholme
November 2010
Her father died when Elinor was two months old and her mother returned to the parental home in Guelph, Ontario, Canada with her two daughters, Lucy Christiana and Elinor.
Back in Canada, Elinor was schooled by her grandmother, Lucy Anne Saunders, in the ways of upper-class society. This early training not only gave her an entrée into aristocratic circles on her return to Europe, but it led to her being considered an authority on style and breeding when she worked in Hollywood in the 1920s.
Her mother remarried a Mr. Kennedy in 1871 and when Elinor was eight years old the family returned to Jersey. When there her schooling continued at home with a succession of governesses.
Elinor married Clayton Louis Glyn (1857–1915), a wealthy but spendthrift landowner, on 27 April 1892. The couple had two daughters, Margot and Juliet, but the marriage apparently foundered on mutual incompatibility although the couple remained together.
As a consequence Elinor had affairs with a succession of British aristocrats and some of her books are supposedly based on her various affairs, such as 'Three Weeks' (1907), allegedly inspired by her affair with Lord Alistair Innes Ker. That affair caused quite a furore and scandalized Edwardian society and one of the scenes in the book had one unnamed poet writing,
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?
She had began her writing in 1900, starting with a book based on letters to her mother, 'The Visits of Elizabeth'. And thereafter she more or less wrote one book each year to keep the wolf from the door, as her husband was debt-ridden from 1908, and also to keep up her standard of living. After several years of illness her husband died in 1915.
Early in her writing career she was recognised as one of the pioneers of what could be called erotic fiction, although not by modern-day standards, and she coined the use of the world 'It' to mean at the time sex-appeal and she helped to make Clara Bow a star by the use of the sobriquet for her of 'The It Girl'.
On the strength of her reputation and success she moved to Hollywood in 1920 and in 1921 was featured as one of the famous personalities in a Ralph Barton cartoon drawn especially for 'Vanity Fair' magazine.
A number of her books were made into films, most notably 'Beyond the Rocks' (1906), which starred Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson, and she was a scriptwriter for the silent movie industry, working for both MGM and Paramount Pictures in the mid-1920s. In addition she also had a brief career as one of the earliest female directors.
In 1927, by which time she had published 32 novels, she once again appeared in some verse of the day. Songsmith Lorenz Hart immortalised her in his song 'My Heart Stood Still' when he wrote,
I read my Plato
Love, I thought a sin
But since your kiss
I'm reading missus Glyn!
She was so universally popular and well-known in the 1920s that she even made a cameo appearance as herself in the 1928 film 'Show People'.
As well as her novels, she wrote wrote magazine articles for the Hearst Press giving advice on 'how to keep your man' and also giving health and beauty tips. In 1922 she published 'The Elinor Glyn System of Writing', which gives an insight into writing for Hollywood studios and magazine editors.
In later life she moved to the United Kingdom, settling in London. She wrote over 40 books, the last of which was 'The Third Eye' (1940) and she died in Chelsea on 23 September 1943, being survived by her two daughters.
Gerry Wolstenholme
November 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
May 4, 2010
I always strain to remember which friend has recommended a given book, but there is no doubt as to which friend gave me this one... and I wish her to know that I am eternally grateful, albeit a choice I almost didn’t make. After all, it just didn’t seem my kind of book, but perhaps in choosing our reading material, going outside our comfort zone is sometimes fortuitous. In this particular case it was serendipitous.
This is a book about a seduction, one accomplished by an older mysterious foreign woman of a younger English man. Reading this book, I cannot help but think of a comparison to our modern world and how little anticipation and true desire play in our lives any longer, at least in any significant way. We are so used to our immediate and total gratification, all we can gain by restraint is some callous display of our tantrums, usually in the form of some violence which we deem necessary. Indeed, I thought of how we are obliged to become temperamental and angry if we are kept waiting for very long. In essence, this book made me think how strangely, in our age, we both immediately possess all that we find valuable and how quickly we discard the same things we once loved as if they were mere banalities.
This book was scandalous at its time, the early 20th century, almost ruining Glyn’s reputation as a writer. However in what is no longer scandalous but merely erotic, perhaps she gives us an intimate look into how passions play out and grow into something more significant, without displaying any scene which is truly realistic for our modern lives. Just as in those who have believed in reincarnation, we can each imagine ourselves as Cleopatra but very seldom as her chamber maid. While reading, each woman is transformed indeed into the royal lady of the Balkans just as every man is the young inexperienced English gentleman with rugged good looks and enormously latent passion, on vacation with his father’s money. It is all too much fun to miss losing oneself for this relatively easy read.
This book demonstrates a continuity, one which progressively waxes and wanes in a special manner, transforming the characters in ways which neither could have anticipated beforehand. Indeed some of the woman’s fatalistic outlook is merely clouds of her bad experience, and the young man’s lack thereof a kind of road to maturity and understanding. It has perhaps lost a bit of giddy excitement to the passage of time and our sense that we know so much more about everything, but it is not short on the ideas of how love ought to both lead and teach us about our own lives.
While boredom moves us to something more exciting today, these lovely characters are led by a kind of serendipitous need and perhaps design. This results not just in the shining of the sun on the great lake of their languor, but also the sad and misty rain which eclipses the lake from the heights of the mountain. In becoming so, it is both quite unusual as well as quite beautiful. I also encourage readers to stop and look up the classical references which seem so unimportant in an age where opinions are seldom required to have any substance. In reading this, as it should always be, restraint and contemplation garners the greater resultant and lasting pleasure.
Still I began to think of our modern era, how our love interests make use of experience for different reasons, to accomplish those things which we have already accomplished, albeit imperfectly just before. I was thinking of how experience today plays into the hands of those who seek love, but is so quickly bypassed after their minimal pleasure in search of the next experience. This book, then, gives us glimpses into a different kind of love, perhaps, one both lofty and insecure, but without lacking continuity.
If you ask whether this is a life changing book, I would suggest that it is probably not so. However this is a book about a time that has left us behind, not one better or worse, but one in which one was still capable of learning some sense of a life lesson through his or her experiences. I was thinking that although we learn of skills and things today, we have long ceased learning about ourselves all that much, rushing to get on and leaving our lives to the consequences of our fate.. We have plenty of experiences and indeed, nothing in this book is quite so shocking today as we push through the boundaries of tastelessness in search of experience, but this book has a cohesion in it, not only of learning but especially concerning love. Perhaps this is just my way of suggesting that the subtlety of tiger skins trumps the excitement of vampires.
This is a book about a seduction, one accomplished by an older mysterious foreign woman of a younger English man. Reading this book, I cannot help but think of a comparison to our modern world and how little anticipation and true desire play in our lives any longer, at least in any significant way. We are so used to our immediate and total gratification, all we can gain by restraint is some callous display of our tantrums, usually in the form of some violence which we deem necessary. Indeed, I thought of how we are obliged to become temperamental and angry if we are kept waiting for very long. In essence, this book made me think how strangely, in our age, we both immediately possess all that we find valuable and how quickly we discard the same things we once loved as if they were mere banalities.
This book was scandalous at its time, the early 20th century, almost ruining Glyn’s reputation as a writer. However in what is no longer scandalous but merely erotic, perhaps she gives us an intimate look into how passions play out and grow into something more significant, without displaying any scene which is truly realistic for our modern lives. Just as in those who have believed in reincarnation, we can each imagine ourselves as Cleopatra but very seldom as her chamber maid. While reading, each woman is transformed indeed into the royal lady of the Balkans just as every man is the young inexperienced English gentleman with rugged good looks and enormously latent passion, on vacation with his father’s money. It is all too much fun to miss losing oneself for this relatively easy read.
This book demonstrates a continuity, one which progressively waxes and wanes in a special manner, transforming the characters in ways which neither could have anticipated beforehand. Indeed some of the woman’s fatalistic outlook is merely clouds of her bad experience, and the young man’s lack thereof a kind of road to maturity and understanding. It has perhaps lost a bit of giddy excitement to the passage of time and our sense that we know so much more about everything, but it is not short on the ideas of how love ought to both lead and teach us about our own lives.
While boredom moves us to something more exciting today, these lovely characters are led by a kind of serendipitous need and perhaps design. This results not just in the shining of the sun on the great lake of their languor, but also the sad and misty rain which eclipses the lake from the heights of the mountain. In becoming so, it is both quite unusual as well as quite beautiful. I also encourage readers to stop and look up the classical references which seem so unimportant in an age where opinions are seldom required to have any substance. In reading this, as it should always be, restraint and contemplation garners the greater resultant and lasting pleasure.
Still I began to think of our modern era, how our love interests make use of experience for different reasons, to accomplish those things which we have already accomplished, albeit imperfectly just before. I was thinking of how experience today plays into the hands of those who seek love, but is so quickly bypassed after their minimal pleasure in search of the next experience. This book, then, gives us glimpses into a different kind of love, perhaps, one both lofty and insecure, but without lacking continuity.
If you ask whether this is a life changing book, I would suggest that it is probably not so. However this is a book about a time that has left us behind, not one better or worse, but one in which one was still capable of learning some sense of a life lesson through his or her experiences. I was thinking that although we learn of skills and things today, we have long ceased learning about ourselves all that much, rushing to get on and leaving our lives to the consequences of our fate.. We have plenty of experiences and indeed, nothing in this book is quite so shocking today as we push through the boundaries of tastelessness in search of experience, but this book has a cohesion in it, not only of learning but especially concerning love. Perhaps this is just my way of suggesting that the subtlety of tiger skins trumps the excitement of vampires.
March 15, 2021
2.5. Just ok.
June 6, 2016
I read Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn for the Out of the Past Classic Film Blog - 2016 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge and I’m glad I did, as I’d been putting it off for awhile. It only took me a couple of days to finish and it thoroughly captivated me, even moving me to tears at the end.
Glyn was a very successful early 20th century English writer of popular romance fiction, although some would claim her work to be more erotic fiction! Her stories primarily focus on softly evolving sensuous love that unfolds gradually, but with great passion, and with the occasional exotic mysterious element thrown in. For Three Weeks that element is a tiger skin rug. Ever hear the ditty… “Would you like to sin / With Elinor Glyn / On a tiger skin? / Or would you prefer / To err with her / On some other fur?” It comes from Three Weeks.
The book was first published in the UK in 1907, but I read the 1909 US version that opened with an “Introduction To My American Readers”, in which Glyn explains some of the “misunderstandings” and “misrepresentations” the book received on its initial release. She explains her characters and their motives, and pretty much gives an overview of the story. I conclude that the purpose of this introduction was two fold; partly, she originally stated to correct misunderstandings, but partly also to whet the appetite of her readers before starting the story. Glyn was a master at self promotion, and was harnessing all the scandalous reviews and stories the American public must have heard in the press regarding the book.
The story is about Paul Verdayne, an aristocratic young Englishman, and the love affair with “His Queen” over a span of three weeks. At the start, Paul falls in love with the local vicar’s daughter and wants to marry her against his family’s wishes. They reach a compromise where Paul is to take a three month tour of Europe and if at the end he feels the same way they will discuss the prospect when he returns. While in Switzerland, Paul becomes enthralled with a mysterious regal lady, who decides she must awaken Paul to the passionate joys of love and life. In the process of awakening him, she falls deeply in love herself, but she can’t tell him anything about herself or her life. We don’t even know her name and neither does Paul, she’s just “His Queen”.
There is always an end to an affair and it’s never pretty, here Glyn takes us on this journey through Paul. We feel the swell of emotions just as he does; sadness, anger, jubilation, depression, and desolation. As a precursor to the story structure of the great mystery novels of Britain’s Golden Age, Glyn reveals all the mysterious elements of “His Queen” and her story at the end to Paul. The final ending is bittersweet, but we are thankful that Paul can now move on.
Three Weeks was a huge hit in America and adapted to the silver screen three times. The story of a young man having an affair with a married woman is salacious in itself, but throw in having a child out of wedlock for noble reasons and it’s shocking, now add a tiger skin rug into the mix and it becomes downright exotic! No wonder it was a hit. The story does feel a bit dated by today’s standards and is certainly not as shocking as it once was, but Glyn’s writing style is eloquent and emotional. As she says in her Introduction, “No line is written without its having a bearing upon the next, and in its small scope helping to make the presentment of these two human beings vivid and clear”. Glyn does not disappoint on this, as we view Paul and “His Queen” over three weeks.
Glyn was a very successful early 20th century English writer of popular romance fiction, although some would claim her work to be more erotic fiction! Her stories primarily focus on softly evolving sensuous love that unfolds gradually, but with great passion, and with the occasional exotic mysterious element thrown in. For Three Weeks that element is a tiger skin rug. Ever hear the ditty… “Would you like to sin / With Elinor Glyn / On a tiger skin? / Or would you prefer / To err with her / On some other fur?” It comes from Three Weeks.
The book was first published in the UK in 1907, but I read the 1909 US version that opened with an “Introduction To My American Readers”, in which Glyn explains some of the “misunderstandings” and “misrepresentations” the book received on its initial release. She explains her characters and their motives, and pretty much gives an overview of the story. I conclude that the purpose of this introduction was two fold; partly, she originally stated to correct misunderstandings, but partly also to whet the appetite of her readers before starting the story. Glyn was a master at self promotion, and was harnessing all the scandalous reviews and stories the American public must have heard in the press regarding the book.
The story is about Paul Verdayne, an aristocratic young Englishman, and the love affair with “His Queen” over a span of three weeks. At the start, Paul falls in love with the local vicar’s daughter and wants to marry her against his family’s wishes. They reach a compromise where Paul is to take a three month tour of Europe and if at the end he feels the same way they will discuss the prospect when he returns. While in Switzerland, Paul becomes enthralled with a mysterious regal lady, who decides she must awaken Paul to the passionate joys of love and life. In the process of awakening him, she falls deeply in love herself, but she can’t tell him anything about herself or her life. We don’t even know her name and neither does Paul, she’s just “His Queen”.
There is always an end to an affair and it’s never pretty, here Glyn takes us on this journey through Paul. We feel the swell of emotions just as he does; sadness, anger, jubilation, depression, and desolation. As a precursor to the story structure of the great mystery novels of Britain’s Golden Age, Glyn reveals all the mysterious elements of “His Queen” and her story at the end to Paul. The final ending is bittersweet, but we are thankful that Paul can now move on.
Three Weeks was a huge hit in America and adapted to the silver screen three times. The story of a young man having an affair with a married woman is salacious in itself, but throw in having a child out of wedlock for noble reasons and it’s shocking, now add a tiger skin rug into the mix and it becomes downright exotic! No wonder it was a hit. The story does feel a bit dated by today’s standards and is certainly not as shocking as it once was, but Glyn’s writing style is eloquent and emotional. As she says in her Introduction, “No line is written without its having a bearing upon the next, and in its small scope helping to make the presentment of these two human beings vivid and clear”. Glyn does not disappoint on this, as we view Paul and “His Queen” over three weeks.
January 18, 2014
Just read “Three Weeks” by Elinor Glyn, the author who invented the term IT that ineffable charisma that beguiles and seduces both men and women. Forget 50 shades of Grey! Written in 1907 when she was 43 Three Weeks is a romance about an aristocratic older woman who enslaves a young man - not with whips and blindfolds - but with the sensual wisdom and authority of the older woman.
Glamorous and gloriously exotically romantic, the sexual tension is heightened through restraint and fantasy. And while her young lover is utterly enslaved to the magnificent aristocratic older woman, he loses none of his masculinity or power. In fact this is a book your husband and girlfriends will love equally as her insight into the male mind is remarkable. The conversions between the male characters in the book lay bare male fantasies in all their exotic naughtiness. Her take on male passion from the male perspective rings so true it compelled my husband to ask, “You sure this book wasn’t written by a man?”
Glamorous and gloriously exotically romantic, the sexual tension is heightened through restraint and fantasy. And while her young lover is utterly enslaved to the magnificent aristocratic older woman, he loses none of his masculinity or power. In fact this is a book your husband and girlfriends will love equally as her insight into the male mind is remarkable. The conversions between the male characters in the book lay bare male fantasies in all their exotic naughtiness. Her take on male passion from the male perspective rings so true it compelled my husband to ask, “You sure this book wasn’t written by a man?”
April 14, 2020
Interesting story. Started off strong and ended not too badly, but soo much breathless prose in the middle.
May 5, 2018
Typical romance novel. Extremely good writing. The plot is a drag at some points, but Glyn manages to keep it from being boring. Definitely read if you are into this time period's writing.
A few samples:
A few samples:
"You see, Paul, love is a purely physical emotion," she continued. "We could speak an immense amount about souls, and sympathy, and understanding, and devotion. All beautiful things in their way, and possible to be enjoyed at a distance from one another. All the things which make passion noble—but without love—which is passion— these things dwindle and become duties presently, when the hysterical exaltation cools.
It was a proof of the strength of his character that he did not let the terrible thought of inevitable parting mar the bliss of the tangible now. He had promised her to live while the sun of their union shone, and he had the force to keep his word.
That was part of the wonder of this lady, with all her intense sensuousness and absence of what European nations call morality; there was yet nothing low or degrading in her influence, its tendency was to exalt and elevate into broad views and logical reasonings.
She had known if he knew her place of abode no fear of death would keep him from trying to see her. Ah! he had had the tears—and why not the cold steel and blood? It was no price to pay could he but hear once more her golden voice, and feel her loving, twining arms.
Read
April 14, 2024Ridiculous but it's fun to discover what was considered smut in 1907
November 26, 2023
a situationship rivalled only by carrie and big my god
October 17, 2025
This book is a long justification on why it's okay to cheat on your husband with a younger man. Which is something that author did in her real life.
Elinor Glyn was an upper middle class British woman married who led a fascinating life (numerous affairs, war journalist, popular socialite). Her father was an engineer but they all had distant aristocratic relations á la Elizabeth Bennet where her grandfather's family had owned a nice manor house for so long that the county treated them higher than then they actually were. Her sister was Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (one of the iconic proto-influencers).
Elinor had an unhappy marriage with her penniless barrister so she had affair with Lord Alastair. There was a 16 year age gap. It's assumed that Elinor was around 42 and Lord Alastair was around 25. However it's possible that Elinor was in her 30s and Alastair was 18ish. 👀 Lord Alastair Robert Innes-Ker was the second son of the 7th Duke of Roxburghe and Lady Anne Emily Spencer-Churchill (so yes, a distant relation to both Princess Diana and PM Churchill) and would later go on to be the equerry of Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather, George V from 1930 to his death in 1936. The Dukes of Roxburghe are still scandalous and pop up in the British tabloids. Daily Mail.
Elinor wrote about the affair in a novel, published it, and then wrote the script for the film adaption. The book came out in 1907 and the first movie came out in 1924. Three Weeks They changed some stuff so it wasn't set in Britain but the infamous scene of
While in Hollywood, Elinor directed 2 silent films, but I don't know if any of the copies exist anymore. For the movie IT Elinor got billed on the poster for writing it in font to rival Clara Bow, and she got a nice cameo. That's the movie where "it girl" became a popular term in American English (supposedly). IT is on YouTube.
I found the background to this book more interesting than the actual text. The book is free and in the public domain, Three Weeks.
Elinor Glyn was an upper middle class British woman married who led a fascinating life (numerous affairs, war journalist, popular socialite). Her father was an engineer but they all had distant aristocratic relations á la Elizabeth Bennet where her grandfather's family had owned a nice manor house for so long that the county treated them higher than then they actually were. Her sister was Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (one of the iconic proto-influencers).
Elinor had an unhappy marriage with her penniless barrister so she had affair with Lord Alastair. There was a 16 year age gap. It's assumed that Elinor was around 42 and Lord Alastair was around 25. However it's possible that Elinor was in her 30s and Alastair was 18ish. 👀 Lord Alastair Robert Innes-Ker was the second son of the 7th Duke of Roxburghe and Lady Anne Emily Spencer-Churchill (so yes, a distant relation to both Princess Diana and PM Churchill) and would later go on to be the equerry of Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather, George V from 1930 to his death in 1936. The Dukes of Roxburghe are still scandalous and pop up in the British tabloids. Daily Mail.
Elinor wrote about the affair in a novel, published it, and then wrote the script for the film adaption. The book came out in 1907 and the first movie came out in 1924. Three Weeks They changed some stuff so it wasn't set in Britain but the infamous scene of
While in Hollywood, Elinor directed 2 silent films, but I don't know if any of the copies exist anymore. For the movie IT Elinor got billed on the poster for writing it in font to rival Clara Bow, and she got a nice cameo. That's the movie where "it girl" became a popular term in American English (supposedly). IT is on YouTube.
I found the background to this book more interesting than the actual text. The book is free and in the public domain, Three Weeks.
January 6, 2017
Initially, this novel is of literary historical interest. The transformation of both primary characters is evenly and believably presented if we make allowances for the century-old presentation. While perhaps half of the sensuous imagery seems out-dated and camp by today's standards, the other half gives us pause. It is in that arena that the author sets out to tutor her callow self-satisfied youngster in genuine aesthetic appreciation for life's deepest pleasures. Her message is deceptively simple: slow the pace, attend to carefully selected experiences, and allow the timing to ripen into precise fulfillment, just as a stunning sunset cannot be hurried. From our stance in the 21st century, we are free to contrast what Glyn considered to be of lasting human value to what we value in our own time. This clear and innocently conveyed message enriches the novel beyond its obvious historical interest.
January 2, 2016
For the most part, this story was a rather fun fantastical romp in the sensuous and sensual Land of Make-Believe, but the plot took an unexpected tragic twist and no one was having fun any more. Three stars to Elinor Glyn for reminding the reader of the value of patience and anticipation and of making the effort to leave emotional pain behind and enjoy the blessings that might previously have been overlooked.
December 17, 2017
The woman is a sex goddess but it's okay because she dies at the end and her husband is an abusive asshole.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2025
I first read this book years ago, probably quite soon after it was reissued by Virago as one of their three turn-of-the-century ‘erotic’ bestsellers. I remembered it fondly as a lot of fun. I lent it to someone, and how we laughed at the Lady ‘undulating like a snake’ over poor, sex-prostrated Paul. I didn’t enjoy it as much on a second reading – and let that be a lesson on the unrecoverability of past experiences. I was sometimes a little bored, and detected a fair bit of padding and repetition. I knew that it had been filmed in the 1920s, and certainly the prose and dialogue is reminiscent of the more florid and rapturous type of silent film title card.
The tacit acceptance of adultery and pre-marital sex was scandalous on its 1907 publication, and it is still surprising (which equates to shock in its faintest form, I suppose) to come across them so luxuriantly treated in a book of this date. In their biography of Elinor, Meredith Etherington-Smith and Jeremy Pilcher observe that ‘Three Weeks is one of those rare literary works – a novel which met the emotional needs of a wide readership at exactly the right moment.’
I rather like Elinor Glyn: she was a game old girl and a wise old bird, and she could turn her hand to almost anything; despite her protestations of intending only to illustrate the nobility of Love, she was certainly savvy enough to know that sex sells (she invented ‘It’ after all); so that I take this from the preface to the American edition with a pinch of salt:
The minds of some human beings are as moles, grubbing in the earth for worms. They have no eyes to see God’s sky with the stars in it. To such [this] will be but a sensual record of passion. But those who do look up beyond the material will understand the deep pure love, and the Soul in it all…
The tacit acceptance of adultery and pre-marital sex was scandalous on its 1907 publication, and it is still surprising (which equates to shock in its faintest form, I suppose) to come across them so luxuriantly treated in a book of this date. In their biography of Elinor, Meredith Etherington-Smith and Jeremy Pilcher observe that ‘Three Weeks is one of those rare literary works – a novel which met the emotional needs of a wide readership at exactly the right moment.’
I rather like Elinor Glyn: she was a game old girl and a wise old bird, and she could turn her hand to almost anything; despite her protestations of intending only to illustrate the nobility of Love, she was certainly savvy enough to know that sex sells (she invented ‘It’ after all); so that I take this from the preface to the American edition with a pinch of salt:
The minds of some human beings are as moles, grubbing in the earth for worms. They have no eyes to see God’s sky with the stars in it. To such [this] will be but a sensual record of passion. But those who do look up beyond the material will understand the deep pure love, and the Soul in it all…
March 21, 2017
I would like to thank several of you superbly eloquent reviewers for helping me appreciate this novel considerably more than I would have without your kind words; a the very least I can appreciate it as a small historical relic. I normally don't review terrible books, but this one was so abominably egregious that I simply had to.
Please excuse the cliche, however, I would like those five hours back.
So first the enjoyable parts.
It was short.
The scenery was described prettily; an older woman teaches our boy to see through the eyes of an aesthete and Paul was so impossibly beautiful that I wanted to know his ultimate fate. That's about all.
The "romance" was so rushed, ridiculous and excessive that it was positively exasperating. He scarcely knew her for a short amount of time, rendering the grief he felt at their parting positively absurd and bordering on the comical. I could not feel in the least bit sorry for either of the characters who spent most of their time cruising on yachts, picking flowers and experiencing the angst normally relegated to twelve-year-old children.
I'll conclude with this: at one point they have dinner in Venice as little French boys sing for them and they then make love on a bed of roses while repeating over and over how much they love each other for all eternity.
"You own my soul my darling!"
"And you mine, my beloved!'
"Our future child shall sit upon the throne of Russia!"
"Yes my love!"
I had to have another scotch and soda to keep the nausea down.
Please excuse the cliche, however, I would like those five hours back.
So first the enjoyable parts.
It was short.
The scenery was described prettily; an older woman teaches our boy to see through the eyes of an aesthete and Paul was so impossibly beautiful that I wanted to know his ultimate fate. That's about all.
The "romance" was so rushed, ridiculous and excessive that it was positively exasperating. He scarcely knew her for a short amount of time, rendering the grief he felt at their parting positively absurd and bordering on the comical. I could not feel in the least bit sorry for either of the characters who spent most of their time cruising on yachts, picking flowers and experiencing the angst normally relegated to twelve-year-old children.
I'll conclude with this: at one point they have dinner in Venice as little French boys sing for them and they then make love on a bed of roses while repeating over and over how much they love each other for all eternity.
"You own my soul my darling!"
"And you mine, my beloved!'
"Our future child shall sit upon the throne of Russia!"
"Yes my love!"
I had to have another scotch and soda to keep the nausea down.
February 1, 2020
I read this book out of interest after hearing about it in an article about the author's sister, who was a fashion designer who ran an international business and had quite a wide influence in the Edwardian era.
This book was banned in more than one country after its publication, and I was curious as to why that happened. It's not because of spicy sex scenes - that side of the relationship is very delicately alluded to but not at all described. It's a tale of a grand amour, followed by loss and sorrow. It must have been the frank description of an adulterous relationship that caused the censorship. But this description, though florid and earnest and very much of its time, is actually quite charming. I was most moved by the redemption that happens at the very end of the book, which made the journey worthwhile.
This book will seem stilted to many modern readers, but if you can appreciate the story through the highflown romanticism, it's a rewarding and quick read.
This book was banned in more than one country after its publication, and I was curious as to why that happened. It's not because of spicy sex scenes - that side of the relationship is very delicately alluded to but not at all described. It's a tale of a grand amour, followed by loss and sorrow. It must have been the frank description of an adulterous relationship that caused the censorship. But this description, though florid and earnest and very much of its time, is actually quite charming. I was most moved by the redemption that happens at the very end of the book, which made the journey worthwhile.
This book will seem stilted to many modern readers, but if you can appreciate the story through the highflown romanticism, it's a rewarding and quick read.
May 20, 2017
Un romanzo che, al tempo, ha scandalizzato il pubblico americano per il suo spirito anticonvenzionale (amorale, secondo l'opinione comune): la donna che seduce il giovane protagonista e condivide con lui tre settimane di ardente passione, infatti, è sposata (se pure con un misterioso e brutale principe russo), e l'autrice non dedica nemmeno mezza riga a condannarne l'adulterio.
La storia risente dell'estetismo decadente dei primi decenni del novecento; ho trovato eccessivi gli sviluppi tragici: è forse lo scotto che l'eroina ha dovuto pagare al perbenismo dei suoi lettori? Non leggerò la continuazione, 'A Day', con la quale, a quanto afferma nella prefazione, la Glyn cercava di recuperare credito, infierendo sul 'frutto della colpa' dei due amanti.
La storia risente dell'estetismo decadente dei primi decenni del novecento; ho trovato eccessivi gli sviluppi tragici: è forse lo scotto che l'eroina ha dovuto pagare al perbenismo dei suoi lettori? Non leggerò la continuazione, 'A Day', con la quale, a quanto afferma nella prefazione, la Glyn cercava di recuperare credito, infierendo sul 'frutto della colpa' dei due amanti.
January 3, 2024
"Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?"
The stars are for the iconic imagery alone. The story follows 23 year old Paul Verdayne as he is seduced by a mysterious Balkan queen while traveling in Switzerland and Vince. It reads like a film from Hollywood's Golden Age, which makes sense since Elinor Glyn was an influential figure in that world. Apparently and the story is based off her real life affair with a young British aristocrat that scandalized Edwardian society.
In this novel we can see what kind of ideology Hollywood feminism was built on. The mysterious queen embodies the 'it-girl', a term that Glyn herself coined. But the existence of an it girl means that the rest are... not 'it'. It is an inherently classist, elitist, and racist concept of female empowerment and it is made very obvious in the novel.
The story itself wasn't anything too exciting, and way too much simping and not enough yearning (there is a difference, I can't explain!!). But yes, the imagery, how it 'looks' is very iconic, I won't deny.
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?"
The stars are for the iconic imagery alone. The story follows 23 year old Paul Verdayne as he is seduced by a mysterious Balkan queen while traveling in Switzerland and Vince. It reads like a film from Hollywood's Golden Age, which makes sense since Elinor Glyn was an influential figure in that world. Apparently and the story is based off her real life affair with a young British aristocrat that scandalized Edwardian society.
In this novel we can see what kind of ideology Hollywood feminism was built on. The mysterious queen embodies the 'it-girl', a term that Glyn herself coined. But the existence of an it girl means that the rest are... not 'it'. It is an inherently classist, elitist, and racist concept of female empowerment and it is made very obvious in the novel.
The story itself wasn't anything too exciting, and way too much simping and not enough yearning (there is a difference, I can't explain!!). But yes, the imagery, how it 'looks' is very iconic, I won't deny.
February 18, 2022
Worth a read only if to see what was deemed titallating back then. I picked this as I have been reading about the Russian Revolution and in one of the books, it was mentioned that the princesses were reading this. I was fortunate to read the 1907 version with its old thing rough-edged pages. Nothing to shout about but it makes me think that a review of these "romances" of that time might be fun.
August 11, 2021
This book is so beautifully and intricately written. I found myself immersed in the story and the characters. It made me felt so many different emotions and I found my self quite emotional at the end of the story. The ending was very heart-breaking but hopeful at the same time.
March 21, 2025
A seller in one of my vintage groups listed the Marshall Field's history _Give the Lady What She Wants_, which was on the Internet Archive, and in it I found this mentioned as scandalous for the time (1907). On a scale of old smut, ranging from zero to _Fanny Hill_ it's a one.
December 11, 2018
This was a racy hit in 1907, and honestly, it’s pretty enjoyable today. A young spoiled Englishman goes to Switzerland and meets a mysterious older Russian woman who schools him in the ways of sexytimes. Contains one random use of the n-word to describe a souvenir—could have done without that.
February 21, 2019
2 stars - trust me, the writing was so bad that I want to give it 5 stars for such an entertaining read!
January 7, 2021
That Paul, he had It!!
November 3, 2021
Erm. Tiger skins are the word…
Read
December 29, 2022Read after seeing the 1924 Hollywood film adaptation.
September 26, 2023
This is a very silly book
January 7, 2025
Boring but the end was good.
April 11, 2023
One of the worst books I’ve ever read.
Want to read
July 19, 2020I knew nothing about this book until I came upon a mention of it in a collection of S. J. Perelman's essays. "Cloudland Revisited: Tuberoses and Tigers", the thorough New Yorker website informs us, appears in the November 13, 1948 issue.
Perelman writes "in a moment of nostalgia laced with masochism, it occurred to me to expose myself again to Miss Glyn's classic and see whether the years had diluted its potency." ("Three Weeks" being originally published in 1907.)
What follows is an elegant but merciless evisceration of the book in Perelman's inimitable style, with long quotes from the work interspersed with his commentary, alternately irreverent, incredulous, mocking, and sardonic in the extreme.
Perhaps this short except can serve as a litmus test for your tolerance of Edwardian prose of the deepest purple: "...And as he gazed at his little son, while the organ pealed out a Te Deum and the sweet choir sang, a great rush of tenderness filled Paul's heart, and melted forever the icebergs of grief and pain."
Or maybe I'm just a bitter old cynic! But the book looks hilarious, at least to our modern cynical and ironic taste.
Perelman writes "in a moment of nostalgia laced with masochism, it occurred to me to expose myself again to Miss Glyn's classic and see whether the years had diluted its potency." ("Three Weeks" being originally published in 1907.)
What follows is an elegant but merciless evisceration of the book in Perelman's inimitable style, with long quotes from the work interspersed with his commentary, alternately irreverent, incredulous, mocking, and sardonic in the extreme.
Perhaps this short except can serve as a litmus test for your tolerance of Edwardian prose of the deepest purple: "...And as he gazed at his little son, while the organ pealed out a Te Deum and the sweet choir sang, a great rush of tenderness filled Paul's heart, and melted forever the icebergs of grief and pain."
Or maybe I'm just a bitter old cynic! But the book looks hilarious, at least to our modern cynical and ironic taste.
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