Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Nur ein Tölpel
Für wen es gedacht ist
Readers who love Victorian plots of fortune, scandal and secret marriages, with sparkling social comedy, a worthy hero among the swells, and a smooth villain whose schemes are a pleasure to watch unfold.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
Only a Clod is a novel by M. E. Braddon, the author of Lady Audley's Secret, who died in 1915. It follows Francis Tredethlyn, a Cornish farmer's son turned private soldier, who is left a vast fortune by a miserly uncle and carried from a convict settlement in Tasmania into the drawing rooms of Victorian London.
The book gives you a sharp, funny picture of the 1850s. You meet fashionable amateur theatricals, croquet on riverside lawns, Bohemian supper parties and the stuccoed streets where new money settles. Under the comedy runs a serious question. What does a good heart count for in a world that prizes polish and cash?
Four people sit at the center of the story. Francis is honest and awkward. Maude Hillary is a spoiled heiress. Julia Desmond is a clever, poor companion with a plan. Harcourt Lowther is the charming officer who once gave Francis orders and now offers to teach him life. Behind them stands a lost cousin, Susan, whose fate Francis has sworn to discover. The first key point begins in a stifling cottage at Port Arthur.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A discontented officer and his cheerful servantFree
- 2A newspaper advertisement changes everything
- 3Home to Cornwall and a housekeeper's story
- 4Twickenham, Maude and Julia
- 5Coltonslough and a diary with a lock
- 6Julia's trap and Maude's sacrifice
- 7A marriage built on debt and a friend with a plan
- 8Susan found and a jealous wife
- 9What the story is about
- 10How the book is told
Punkt 1 von 10
A discontented officer and his cheerful servant
The story opens at Port Arthur in Van Diemen's Land, where Ensign Harcourt Lowther of the 51st Light Infantry sits in a hot cottage and complains about everything. His cigar will not draw, the drought is cooking the garden, and he is stuck guarding convicts instead of winning glory in India. He is handsome, musical, a fine rider and a good shot, and he is certain the world owes him forty thousand pounds a year.
His valet is a private soldier named Francis Tredethlyn, a tall Cornishman of twenty-seven who whistles Irish tunes while he polishes boots. Francis is not clever with books. He knows only a few great dates of English history. But he is at home with life. He finds meaning in a cloud, makes friends with the convict gardeners, builds an aviary and keeps stray dogs in a shady corner.
Lowther treats him like a spoiled child treats a doll, friendly one hour and haughty the next. He tells himself the fellow knows his place. The truth is that the master needs the servant far more than the servant needs the master.
The ensign also nurses a private grievance. Before he sailed he became engaged to Maude Hillary, the daughter of a rich London merchant, but her father stands against the match. Lowther believes two years of absence will wipe him from her thoughts. He dines with the local magistrate, endures the piano playing of the magistrate's lonely daughter, and dreams of the lawns at Twickenham.
The chapters set up the book's central pairing early. One man has every polish and no warmth. The other has warmth and no polish. When Lowther complains that he is stuck with a boor and a clod, the reader already sees which of them deserves the word less.
Braddon draws both with a comic eye. Lowther's self-pity is a performance, and she lets us watch him admire his own profile in a mirror while a man with real troubles hums happily in the next room.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Nur ein Tölpel
What is Only a Clod about?
It follows Francis Tredethlyn, a Cornish soldier who inherits thirty thousand pounds a year. He searches for his lost cousin Susan and falls in love with a rich heiress, while a charming schemer plots his ruin.
Who wrote Only a Clod and when?
M. E. Braddon wrote it in the Victorian period. She died in 1915 and was famous for sensation novels full of secrets, scandals and strong female characters.
Why is the book called Only a Clod?
Clod is a word the ensign Harcourt Lowther uses for his valet Francis. The book asks whether a plain, honest man deserves that insult, and shows what he is worth beside smoother characters.
Is Only a Clod easy to read?
Yes, in its own way. The plot moves through short chapters, the narrator is lively and funny, and each scene is full of clear, memorable characters, so it is easy to follow and enjoy.
What is the main message of the book?
Character matters more than polish and cleverness. Honest feeling, loyalty and kindness are worth more than wealth, wit or good manners, though money and gossip can cloud who has them.