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The next morning passed in restless debate with himself. He did not cross the way to call upon Eve: the thought of speaking with her on the doorstep of a lodging-house proved intolerable. All day long he kept his post of observation. Other persons he saw leave and enter the house, but Miss Madeley did not come forth. That he could have missed her seemed impossible, for even while eating his meals he remained by the window. Perchance she had left home very early in the morning, but it was unlikely. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Gissing In Brief Form
This novella, at 125 pages, contains many of the trademark Gissing facets:introspective, thoughtful people struggling to balance very human impulses with a sense of social responsibility.The protagonist wants to be brusque about himself, giving short shrift to his more developed morality and admonishing himself for his all-too-mortal desires.Circumstances have been difficult in his life, and temptations and depression always flirt with him as he navigates through a career and singlehood.Amidst a small circle of friends he gets to know someone he thinks is his distaff equivalent, a woman who has faced struggles but keeps her head above water with pride.Each of the primary players faces choices that are difficult.The story does not push forward with an energetic plotline, but rather respresents a character study of young adults in romance and friendships.Not Gissing's strongest work, but a fine and rare selection for fans if they can locate a copy.

money can not buy you love...
Eve's Ransom is a short (125 pages) novel concerning the efforts of a young man to, in effect, buy the affection of a mysterious young woman. Actually, he really is just trying to help "a friend in need". But the young woman leads him on, accepts his money, and in the end ... well, you know how these things turn out.
Yes, the story is simple. However any material from George Gissing is an interesting read, especially for those interested in the more social aspects of Victorian society. Money and greed are also common themes, and Mr. Gissing makes keen observations in these areas that are true even today.

Eve's Ransom is a must read for George Gissing fans. For those who have not read any of George Gissing's novels I recommend first reading New Grub Street. It is unfortunate Eve's Ransom is no longer printed. No, it's not George Gissing's best novel. But it is still a worthy read.

Finally for those who like the "man falls in love with Ms. Wrong"-type of novels, especially those set in Victorian England, I recommend reading Basil by Wilkie Collins. ... Read more

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Were the lady in town he might receive an answer by the evening of next day. But the day passed, and no letter arrived for him. A second day went by; and only on the morning of the third was there put into his hand a small envelope, which he knew at a glance to be the reply he awaited. He opened it with nervous haste. Lady Revill apologised for her delay; she was in the west of England, and would not be back in town until Saturday evening. But if Mr. Langley could conveniently call at eleven on Monday morning, it would give her pleasure to see him. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. An author at grass,from Fortnightly review, 1902-03 ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1897Original Publisher: Smith, Elder, ... Read more

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These tales of comedy and tragedy, loyalty and friendship, falls from grace and social unease, arrogant men and victims of good fortune, paint an honest portrait of life in nineteenth century Britain. The stories include "Lou and Liz," "The Day of Silence," "A Poor Gentleman," "Fleet-Footed Hester," "A Freak of Nature," and "Humplebee." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

fine slices of Victorian life
'The Day of Silence..' contains several short stories by George ('New Grub Street') Gissing from the 1890s.As expected, they are well-written and generally portray life from a personal perspective.Greed, selfishness, boorish behavior are all on display.Gissing doesn't seem to be preaching anything but rather simply highlighting daily life of common Londoners during that time.Interesting?Yes, generally.Enthralling?No, not even close.


Bottom line: get hooked on 'New Grub Street' before dabbling into anything else by Gissing.That said, these short stories represent quality literature. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1886 edition by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig. ... Read more

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This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1886 edition by Bernhard Tauchnitz, Leipzig. ... Read more

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1895. The book begins: At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, Arthur Peachey unlocked his front door, and quietly went forth. He had not ventured to ask that early breakfast should be prepared for him. Enough that he was leaving home for a summer holiday-the first he had allowed himself since his marriage three years ago. ... Read more

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In the Year of Jubilee
I have always liked this book, and since I had lost my copy, was very to find it again.Having re-read the book, I remember why I liked it, and think others will too. ... Read more

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Thyrza. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Thyrza
"And thou art dead, as young and fair
As aught of mortal birth;
And form so soft and charms so rare
Too soon return'd to Earth!"

George Gordon Lord Byron, "Elegy on Thyrza"

George Gissing's (1857 -- 1903)novel "Thyrza" (1887) centers upon the death of abeautiful, young woman with the unusual name in Byron's poem. The book was Gissing's fifth published novel and one of a series of early works in which he explored the lives of the London poor. A young naive Gissing sold the copyright to the book for a pittance, although the novel would achieve some success during his lifetime. "Thyrza" is a lengthy book with a difficult and intricate plot and a distinctly dated Victorian writing style. These considerations help explain why the book is little read today. But I love the book and wanted at least to raise awareness of it in this review.With the advent of digitalization, it is easy for those who wish to pursue this novel to do so. I offer the following bare outline of the novel.

Most of the story is set in Lambeth, a poor working-class area of London. The characters are not at the bottom of the economic ladder, but they are poor factory workers who must work long hours at thankless, mindless drudgery to live. Much of the book is a story of class conflict. The primary male character is Walter Egremont, a young man of wealth who has inherited his father's oil-cloth factory. Egremont is weak, unfocused, but well-meaning.As with many people today, he does not know what to do with his life. At length he forms the plan of giving lectures on English literature to a select group of workers in Lambeth to raise their perspective on life from their day to day activites and to instill in select individuals a love of beauty and learning. Before leaving for his planned mission in Lambeth, Egremont proposes to a lovely young woman of his own class, Annabel, who rejects him.

Egremont's lectures are received indifferently in Lambeth, but he presses on and tries to fund and establish a free library in the community.He asks a middle aged candle worker named Gilbert Grail, who has read extensively during a harried life, to serve as the librarian. Gilbert uses the opportunity for economic freedom that Egremont has offered him to propose to the beautiful and frail Thyrza Trent, age 17, with whom he has shared his love of literature and reading, and whom he has long loved from afar. Thyzra has a beautiful, untrained singing voice. Thyrza accepts Grail's proposal. As the novel goes forward, Thyrza falls in love with Egremont.Egremont loves Thyrza as well but, because of her engagement to Grail, tries to suppress his feelings. Shamed at breaking her engagement to Grail, Thyrza runs away from Lambeth and almost dies.

She is rescued by an elderly woman friend of Egremont's, Mrs. Ormonde, who tries to make a lady of Thyrza (a Pygmalion-type theme is common in Gissing) and to train her heretofore untutored singing voice. Ormonde opposes Egremont's passion and contemplated marriage to Thyrza on grounds that the two are of radically different and irreconciliable social classes and backgrounds. She persuades Egremont to spend two years away in America after which, she promises, she will not interfere if Egremont decides to propose to Thyrza. At the close of the two years, Egremont's idealism much diminished, Mrs Ormonde again persuades Egremont not to propose to Thyrza.Heartbroken, Thyzra returns to Lambeth and offers to marry her original suitor, Gilbert Grail.But she dies before the marriage can take place. Egremont then proposes again to Annabel and is accepted. In accepting, Annabel tells Egremont that he has missed the opportunity to make something valuable of his life by marrying Thyrza. The marriage of Annabel and Egremont will be comfortable but dull and passionless.

Much of the force of "Thyrza" derives from its descriptive passages, of nature, of upper-class England, but especially of the streets, shops and people of Lambeth. For example, in a scene in which a group of poor children dance to a barrel-organ playing on Lambeth Walk, Gissing describes (Chapter IX):

"the life of men who toil without hope, yet with the hunger of an unshaped desire; of women in whom the sweetness of their sex is perishing under labour and misery; the laugh, the song of the girl who strives to enjoy her year or two of youthful vigour, knowing the darkness of the years to come; the careless defiance of the youth who feels his blood and revolts against the lot which would tame it; all that is purely human in these darkened multitudes speaks to you as you listen.It is the self-conscious striving of a nature, which knows not what it would attain, which deforms a true thought by gross expression, which clutches at the beautiful and soils it with foul hands."

Gissing offers sympathetic, rounded portrayals of many people of Lambeth, including Thyzra's older sister Lydia, Gilbert Grail, a working girl named Totty Nanacarrow, a young man named Luke Ackroyd who, like Egremont, has difficulty finding direction for his life. He ultimately marries Lydia. Egremont, the most modern character in the tale with his vacillation, good intention and ultimate lack of passion or commitment, receives a convincing portrayal. Thyrza herself is an idealization.

As with much of Gissing, "Thyrza" is a mixture of social realism and romantic love.For all its emphsis on Lambeth and on the difficulty of uplifting the poor through programs of literary education, the focus of this novel is on passion and of the rarity and supreme importance in Gissing's eyes of true love. The heroine, Thyzra, is willing to break her engagement because she feels the force of love, physical as well as intellectual for Egremont.Egremont in the last analysis lacks the courage to act upon his feelings, and his life remains forever poor and atrophied as a result.

While the story threatens at times to lapse into sentimentality, "Thyrza" is a deeply-felt and thoughtful novel.It will never be widely read but its name deserves to be known."Thyrza" will continue to find its own small group of readers.

Robin Friedman
... Read more

Product Description
In one sense Hilda Castledine did not underestimate her work; for the last year she had been conscious of great improvements, and at times it disappointed her that Horace seemed not to recognise this advance. She had explained his indifference by humbly admitting to herself that after all she remained an amateur -- the kind of is person especially distasteful to artists of strong individuality. But this excuse was no longer valid; her work had a market value, and that owing to no sensational qualities, to no passing fancy of the public, but in virtue of simple merits which make their claim felt wherever men are capable of recognising true art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reflections about Life in Solitary Retirement
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft by George Gissing is part novel, part
autobiography and partly a book of brief essays or reflections on various subjects.
The book was published in 1903, the year that Gissing died. It presents a mellowed
cynical author who after a difficult life spent mostly in London is given a legacy of an
annual annuity which enables him to retire in solitude to a country cottage in Devon
county, England.Here he writes down his reflections ranging from the philosophical
meaning of life to comments on simple daily life.There is much about reading, books and
authors (Holbrook Jackson in his The Anatomy of Bibliomania has many references to
George Gissing).There are comments about nature walks in the country, memories of
past events in London, visits to special places.There is discussion of English culture,
customs and even of culinary arts.Gissing was not a Christian but in this book he shares a
generally positive view of the influence of Christianity on England.He had in his own life
also found solace in the Stoic philosophers, particularly Marcus Aurelius.My own
personal copy of this book is the Oxford University Press 1987 paperback edition in their
World's Classics series, with editorial notes by Mark Storey.I first read the volume late
in 1990 as I was looking forward to my own gradual retirement to small town life.I have
just read it again in early January 2004 with as much pleasure as I first read it. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Biography ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more