OCTOBER, 2026 CLASSIC CORNER

 

MIDDLEMARCH BY GEORGE ELIOT

HELEN: This book was officially divided into eight separate volumes published between 1871 and 1872. Helen read about 100 pages of the first book.  It is a study of provincial life set in the imaginary county of Loamshire, England, during years of unrest preceding the 1832 Reform Bill. With its complex plot, broad canvas and huge cast of characters, it has long been recognised as one of a few classic English novels. The book starts with Miss Brooke, a 19 year old woman who lives with her sister and her uncle.   She has marriage prospects with two suitors vying for her attention, but she yearns for a life devoted to social improvement and learning.  The author is known for realism and a sense of place in novels.

DEBRA: She also read this book and is going on to Book 2. She said it was very verbose, using fourteen words when you could use about five.  Some of the words are no longer used today.  Debra said it is a challenging book and not one you can read fast.  Both Helen and Debra agreed it was a book you needed to read slowly to understand the meaning.

MARGARET:  THE SEA, THE SEA BY IRISH MURDOCH

Iris Murdoch is an Irish writer who won the Booker Prize in 1978 for this book.   The story is set on a rugged part of the English coast and is told through the eyes of a recently retired theatre director and playwright. He reflects on his surroundings, his career and the people in his life, not always kindly. He speaks of many lovers, but he feels there was only one true love.  In his mind he believes she was cruelly taken from him.  He discovers that she lives nearby and he is determined to rescue her from her humdrum life.  Margaret said it was a bit tedious being in the head of such an arrogant, self-centred and misogynistic man The descriptions of the sea, its colours and the rocky coastline are glorious.  The sea is a character in the book.

SILAS MARNER BY GEORGE ELIOT

JUDY A:  This is a classic 1861 novel about a lonely broken linen weaver who finds redemption and human connection through an abandoned child.  Silas Marner lives in Lantern Yard, a tight knit religious community, where his friend frames him for stealing church funds. Silas loses his faith in God and people and lives as a hermit until a young child wanders into his cottage.

VAL:  She also read Silas Marner.  She had read it when she was very young and cried in parts, but this time around found it a bit difficult and tedious, but beautifully crafted.

ED:  PERSUASION BY JANE AUSTEN

The main character, Anne Elliot is a 27 year old woman in Regency era England. Eight years earlier, 19 yr old Anne fell in love with Captain Wentworth, a poor and untitled naval officer.   Anne was persuaded by her family and her mentor, Lady Russell, that the match was imprudent and lacked fortune. Anne broke off the engagement, but years later they meet again and she gets a rare second chance at true love.

LYN:   THE HOUND OF BASKERVILLES BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

The old English prose was a bit hard to get used to but very descriptive.  It is the third of the four crime novels featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes.

BEV:  NORTH AND SOUTH BY Elizabeth Gaskell

Bev said she finished the book.  It was okay.

ROSEMARY S:  SHIRALEE By DARCY NYLAND (1955)  

The novel is about Macauley, a rough outback swagman who takes his small daughter, Buster away from her unfaithful mother in Sydney.  As they tramp through rural NSW, he initially views the four year old girl as his shiralee (burden).  However, as they face the hardships of the road together, his resentment transforms into deep, protective love, ultimately redefining his burden as his greatest blessing.  Shiralee is a dated Australian slang term for a swagman’s rolled up blanket bundle or personal pack, which later came to mean a heavy physical or psychological burden.

JUDY D: LONESOME DOVE BY LARRY McMURTRY

This is an 1985 epic western novel. It is a story of two former Texas rangers in the 1870’s who steal Mexican cattle and drive them north to establish the first ranch in Montana. They put together a crew of audacious cowboys to go on this perilous cattle drive across the sprawling wilderness.  Judy has only read about a quarter of the book.  She found the men’s actions and attitudes annoying. The story is about the gritty realism of the American frontier.  It wasn’t for Judy.

KRIS:  MY BRILLIAN CAREER BY MILES FRANKLIN (1901)

This story if set in 19^th century Australia.  The main character is Sybilla, an irrepressible teenage girl.  Her family must move from their beloved Brindabella farm to a farm at Possum Gully due to her father’s many failed ventures.  He drinks too much and his family are forced into extreme poverty. Sybilla endures hard labour on the farm, leaving little time to write. She shows talent but it is not until she is sent to her wealthy grandmother’s house and farm called Caddagat, where she is exposed to art, literature and music that nurtures her creative spirit.   This novel is semi- autobiographical.  Kris enjoyed it even more second time around.

PAT:   LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER BY D.H.LAWRENCE

Pat enjoyed this novel. 23 year old Constance Reid had a lot of freedom.  She went to university. She marries Clifford Chatterley who goes off to fight in World War I. After six months of marriage he returns permanently paralyzed from the waist down and emotionally detached.  On the death of his father, he inherits the family estate and becomes a Baronet.  The couple are now Sir Clifford and Lady Chatterley. Clifford gives his wife permission to conceive a child with another man as he wanted an heir.  Connie felt isolated, lonely and unfulfilled in her marriage and begins a secret, passionate affair with Oliver Mellors, the estate’s gamekeeper. 

 The novel was privately published in 1928 and banned immediately due to the profane language and sexual acts as well as the class transgressive themes. The ban was lifted in 1959.

JOAN:   MADAME BOVARY BY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT (1856)

This 269 page novel tells the melancholy tale of an unhappy country doctor, Charles Bovary and his wife Emma.  It deals with Emma’s dreams of a passionate, high society lifestyle and the demise through adultery and all it’s repercussions.  Brilliantly written – true classic.  The author was considered a leading exponent of the writing style “literary realism” which means telling the story of mundane life truthfully without romantic embellishment.

JO:  A TOWN LIKE ALICE BY NEVILLE SHUTE (1950)

This is a classic historical and romance novel that spans World War II era Malaya and the post war Australian outback.  A young Englishwoman, Jean, along with others is saved by an Australian POW who risks his life to get them out. After the war she travels to a remote Queensland town in Australia to find Joe and they marry. Jo said it is a beautiful love story.  Jean tries to modernize the settlement into a thriving community like Alice Springs.  Jo enjoyed it immensely.

KERRY:  WUTHERING HEIGHTS BY EMILY BRONTE (1847)

The story is told through the lens of a teenage girl (15). Cathy is in a destructive relationship with Heathcliff.  They are considered star crossed lovers.  Cathy believes they are like one. They can’t be together, but they can’t live apart. Kerry read it in high school and read it again this year.  She said you realise today how much of it is about coercive control and dominance.  It’s not uplifting but beautifully written. The housekeeper provides comfort and care for Cathy but everyone else is cruel.

ROSEMARY W.  HEART OF DARKNESS BY JOSEPH CONRAD

This is a 1899 novella.  Conrad is a great writer but on re reading it after a long time she found it very hard to read the language.  It took her a long time. The protagonist, Charles Marlow is a steamer captain for a Belgian company.  He is sent up the Congo river to find Kurtz, an employee who has descended into savagery.  Some say the theme is colonialism, others feel it is more about humanity.  For a short novel there are so many moral issues.

PRUE:   GOOD EARTH BY PEARL S. BUCK

This 289 page book is a condensed version.  The original is 416 pages.  She has read about 50 pages.  It is the first in a trilogy.

It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1931 for historical fiction. Wang Lung, a young Chinese man, has a connection to the land. He marries O-Ian and together they work their way up to a big house but fortunes go down again. Their first daughter dies and the second is killed.  They had sons but they did not feel as connected to the land as their father.  Prue said it is a beautiful story.

TAM:  CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY BY ALAN PATON (1948)

It is set in the prelude to apartheid in South Africa.  It is about two grieving fathers; one a white farmer and the other a black priest.  Tam said it was a thought provoking novel.

 

Kris

 

IN NOVEMBER WE WILL BE READING NON FICTION