Paul Ferroll by Caroline Clive

Paul Ferroll by Caroline Clive

Paul Ferroll , a scandalous success when it was first published in 1855, shocked contemporary opinion with its moral ambiguity and authorial detachment, and its refusal of traditional fictional values. `I committed a crime to win you eighteen years ago, and I must die for it ...I have acted over this scene a million times in my imagination, but never in all those times parted from you with a jest as I did in reality just now. Wife, mistress, darling, my joy, my life, you cannot hate me...' Rich and clever, happily married and apparently respectable, Paul Ferroll keeps apart from his country neighbours, who think it may be because his first wife was horribly murdered long ago. They admire his selflessness during a cholera epidemic and his bravery in controlling a violent mob by killing the ringleader; they admire his beautiful wife and daughter, and his brilliant literary reputation; they don't understand his jokes. But then gossip about the murder circulates, and an old woman is summoned to trial ...A highly unusual Victorian crime novel, Paul Ferroll has been out of print for more than sixty years. This edition is based on the author's own corrected copy of the novel, and the introduction draws on contemporary reviews and manuscript sources. This book is intended for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Victorian Studies; Crime Fiction; Popular Fiction; Women's Studies.

Clive, Caroline: -

Caroline Clive (1801-1873) was an English poet and novelist. Born in London, Clive was the daughter of Edmund Meysey-Wigley, Esq., M.P. for Worcester, and Anna Maria Meysey. From the age of three onward, Clive suffered from physical disabilities brought on by a sudden illness. In 1840, she published IX Poems to critical acclaim and popular success, albeit under the pseudonym V. That same year, Clive married Reverend Archer Clive, with whom she raised a son and a daughter. Over the next decade, she published four more collections of poetry, including The Queen's Ball (1847) and Valley of the Rea (1851). In 1853, Clive published a sensational novel, Paul Ferroll (1855), an immediate commercial success. A pioneering work of detective fiction published years before the work of Wilkie Collins, Paul Ferroll marked the apotheosis of Clive's literary career. A sequel, Why Paul Ferroll Killed his Wife (1860), and another novel, John Grewold (1864), would follow.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192832474
ISBN 10	0192832476
Title	Paul Ferroll
Author	Caroline Clive
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	1997-08-01
Number of pages	236
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable