Résumé
Résumé de Le chauffeur de Cynthia
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who enjoy a light, quick romance of mistaken identity, motoring adventure, and picture-book English scenery, and anyone who likes a spirited American heroine matched against old English manners.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Cynthia's Chauffeur is an Edwardian romance by Louis Tracy, an English novelist and journalist who died in 1928. It begins on Derby Day and follows a motor tour through the south and west of England. You get fast cars, coaching inns, castles, cathedrals and a love story, all carried along by a lively plot with real villains in it.
The hero is Viscount Medenham, heir to an earl, home after years of wandering in Africa and Asia. On his way to the races he meets a stranded driver, borrows a uniform and takes the man's place, so that he can carry a rich American girl, Cynthia Vanrenen, and her chaperone to Brighton and beyond. He gives only part of his name, George Augustus Fitzroy, and tells himself it is a harmless joke.
The joke stops being harmless when he overhears two men at the seaside planning something that involves Cynthia and her father's money. From then on he cannot leave the wheel. This summary follows the story in order, introduces the people to watch, and shows what the book is really about, stopping before its ending. Let us begin on Derby Day, where a basket of strawberries sets everything moving.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A borrowed uniform on Derby DayFree
- 2A chauffeur with a very odd luncheon
- 3Brighton by night and a plot overheard
- 4Old friends, old towns, and a growing risk
- 5The trap on the Mendips
- 6Bristol, a dismissed rogue, and a furious father
- 7Moonlight on the Wye and a telephone call
- 8What the story is really about
- 9How Tracy tells it
Point clé 1 sur 9
A borrowed uniform on Derby Day
The story opens on Derby Day in London, with the whole city asking the same question about who will win. Young Lord Medenham sets off in his Mercury motorcar with his chauffeur Dale, meaning to collect his aunt, Lady St. Maur, for the races. She is in bed with her yearly stomach complaint, blamed on hothouse strawberries, so the picnic basket has no one to eat it.
Medenham decides to go to Epsom anyway, and takes the wheel himself. In Down Street he finds a car pulled up at the curb and its driver in despair. The man is Simmonds, who served under him in the Boer War, and a railway van has just snapped his transmission shaft.
Simmonds explains that he has a contract with a rich American and a booking to take the man's daughter and her companion on a ten day tour. He needs the work to pay for the car he bought. Medenham, who never passes a motorist in trouble, offers to take the job for a few days, and he shrugs off every objection with cheerful orders.
He has the luggage rack moved to his own car, buys a chauffeur's outfit, and drives to the Savoy Hotel. There he meets Cynthia Vanrenen, a slim girl with blue eyes and a decided manner, and her chaperone, Mrs. Devar. Her name startles him, because he knows her son, Captain Jimmy Devar, a disgraced officer who once borrowed fifty pounds from him.
He gives his name as George Augustus Fitzroy, which is the family name of his own father's house. Mrs. Devar finds the name ridiculous, and Cynthia finds the new driver unusual. The chapter ends at Epsom, where Cynthia announces that her father's friend has tipped an American horse to win.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Questions about Le chauffeur de Cynthia
What is Cynthia's Chauffeur about?
It follows Viscount Medenham, who poses as a chauffeur called Fitzroy to drive an American heiress, Cynthia Vanrenen, and her chaperone across England, and who discovers that a French count and others are plotting to win her fortune.
Who is Fitzroy in Cynthia's Chauffeur?
Fitzroy is the name Viscount Medenham, the son of the Earl of Fairholme, uses while he hides his title. He gives the name George Augustus Fitzroy when he steps in for the driver Simmonds, and he keeps it for most of the tour.
When was Cynthia's Chauffeur written and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction by Louis Tracy, set in the Edwardian years soon after the Boer War. The people are invented, but the towns, roads, castles and inns they visit are real English places.
Where does the story take place?
Most of the action follows a motor tour through England and Wales. The route runs from London through Epsom, Brighton, Bournemouth, Glastonbury, Bristol, the Wye valley, Hereford and Ludlow, before the story moves to Chester and the Lake District.
Is Cynthia's Chauffeur easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it has a clear, forward-moving plot, short scenes, lively dialogue and a humorous narrator. Each chapter covers a new town, so you can follow the tour stage by stage.