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A Set of Rogues: Illustrated Edition
Fantastical novel entitled "A Set of Rogues, Their Wicked Conspiracy, and a True Account of their Travels and Adventures."
- GenresPirates
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1895
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About the author
Frank Barrett
183 books2 followersFrank Barrett (1848-1926) was a popular British novelist and pottery owner.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 25, 2017
Highly likable Victorian novel which which feels even more old-fashioned than that.
Three travelling players down on their luck after the great fire of London are offered a very different acting assignment by a distinguished Spanish gentleman, Don Sanchez del Castillo de Castalana. By impersonating a sailor, a lawyer and a young woman captured into slavery by Barbary pirates they aim to claim an inheritance with its estate.
Jack Dawson is a good-natured comic ham with a fondness for drink. 'A better man never lived, nor a more honest - circumstances permitting.' He loves his daughter even more, and she will have the hardest part to play in the deception.
Moll Dawson is sprightly and honest with a fondness for playacting and practical jokes. 'Her very step was a kind of dance, and she needs must fall a-carolling of songs like a lark when it flies.' She's a thoroughly charming figure. In preparation for her role as an imposter she has act like a lady (as well as learn to speak the Morrish tongue).
So how can the author enlist our sympathy for characters presented as sweet and good-natured who nonetheless participate in a con at the expense of a young heiress whose inheritance would pay the price of her freedom from slavery?
Having a modest, empathetic first-person narrator helps, which Kit, the third 'rogue' in our trio of traveling thespians certainly is. Not as brilliant as either Dawson senior or junior, he has a powerful conscience. In fact all three experience the guilt of their crime.
A satisfying resolution to the moral dilemma of their crime is also essential, and in this respect Barrett came up trumps. A fortuitous romance pages the way, while a fitting act of sacrifice seals the deal.
I don't know much about the author, the only mention of him I could discover online sadly related to a ruthless publisher who refused one of Barrett's novels when the writer was in his seventies. Presumably he still needed the money so this was a sad circumstance.
I mentioned up top that the prose had an old-fashioned appeal quite independent of its Victorian publication date. Of course the story is set in the 17th century, and Barrett captured the feel of that earlier century without overdoing the archaic phrases, just the odd one here and there such as 'as merry as grigs.'
I genuinely cares for his characters to the end. I wanted things to turn out well for them.
Three travelling players down on their luck after the great fire of London are offered a very different acting assignment by a distinguished Spanish gentleman, Don Sanchez del Castillo de Castalana. By impersonating a sailor, a lawyer and a young woman captured into slavery by Barbary pirates they aim to claim an inheritance with its estate.
Jack Dawson is a good-natured comic ham with a fondness for drink. 'A better man never lived, nor a more honest - circumstances permitting.' He loves his daughter even more, and she will have the hardest part to play in the deception.
Moll Dawson is sprightly and honest with a fondness for playacting and practical jokes. 'Her very step was a kind of dance, and she needs must fall a-carolling of songs like a lark when it flies.' She's a thoroughly charming figure. In preparation for her role as an imposter she has act like a lady (as well as learn to speak the Morrish tongue).
So how can the author enlist our sympathy for characters presented as sweet and good-natured who nonetheless participate in a con at the expense of a young heiress whose inheritance would pay the price of her freedom from slavery?
Having a modest, empathetic first-person narrator helps, which Kit, the third 'rogue' in our trio of traveling thespians certainly is. Not as brilliant as either Dawson senior or junior, he has a powerful conscience. In fact all three experience the guilt of their crime.
A satisfying resolution to the moral dilemma of their crime is also essential, and in this respect Barrett came up trumps. A fortuitous romance pages the way, while a fitting act of sacrifice seals the deal.
I don't know much about the author, the only mention of him I could discover online sadly related to a ruthless publisher who refused one of Barrett's novels when the writer was in his seventies. Presumably he still needed the money so this was a sad circumstance.
I mentioned up top that the prose had an old-fashioned appeal quite independent of its Victorian publication date. Of course the story is set in the 17th century, and Barrett captured the feel of that earlier century without overdoing the archaic phrases, just the odd one here and there such as 'as merry as grigs.'
I genuinely cares for his characters to the end. I wanted things to turn out well for them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review