Saturday 3 April 2010

A good read

I’m indebted to fellow blogger Ray Girvan for his interesting piece on a Victorian melodrama set in a thinly disguised Arreton, known in the book as ‘Arden’.The story, titled ‘The Reproach of Annesley’ was written by Mary Tuttiet of Newport, under the pen name of Maxwell Gray, writing being considered rather an unladylike activity at the time.

Ray’s summary of the plot and character descriptions (“a nice-but-dim mother and geeky father highly reminiscent of the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice”) are worth a read in their own right, but I’m not sure how many copies of the book itself are still around. You may have to visit a few antiquarian book shops, although I see there is a link to the text on Ray’s blog, so you could always print it yourself!

Link

2 comments:

Pat said...

Mary Tuttiet aka
Maxwell Gray,also wrote The Silence of Dean Maitland, based on Swainston and Calbourne, a gothic mystery. It is available in the County Library
Pat Phillips

Ray Girvan said...

Thanks! In The Reproach of Annesley there are some lovely descriptions from the road along the downs, running west toward the Hare and Hounds and mentioning the chalk pit below; it's clear Mary Tuttiett must have visited there to know it so precisely.