Résumé
Résumé de L’Éventail du mandarin
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who like Victorian crime with a ghost in the ruins, a secret marriage, a ticking mortgage and a puzzle object passed from hand to hand. Fans of clever detectives and colorful villains will feel at home.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Mandarin's Fan is a mystery novel by Fergus Hume, the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. It is set in the first year of the twentieth century on the Essex coast. A seaside town, a decaying Tudor mansion and a Chinese relic share one tangled plot.
At the center stands Rupert Ainsleigh, the last of an old family, who is about to lose his home, Royabay. A curse from a burned abbot hangs over his line. Then he cuts a strange advertisement from a newspaper. It offers wealth to whoever returns a jade fan and death to whoever refuses.
The book gives you a murder at a crowded ball, a detective who trusts facts, and a quarrel among Chinese agents who obey a private god. It also gives you a gallery of sharp-tongued English types, from a vain old soldier to a spiteful companion. Hume mixes comedy, romance and menace, and keeps every chapter moving. Let us begin with the young man on the terrace and the debts that press on him.
Dans ce résumé
- 1An heir, a curse and a newspaper slipFree
- 2Whispers about a fan and a vanished cabinet
- 3Ivy Lodge and a marriage kept secret
- 4A pirate's tale and a warning about death
- 5The ball at the Bristol Hotel
- 6A detective, an inquest and a story from Canton
- 7A will, a confession of sorts and a trap in Rotherhithe
- 8A flight, a ghost and a visitor in the night
- 9What the story is really about
- 10How the book is told
Point clé 1 sur 10
An heir, a curse and a newspaper slip
The story opens on a July evening at Royabay, a gray Tudor house built from the stones of a ruined abbey. Rupert Ainsleigh, twenty-five and nearly penniless, sits on the terrace with Major Tidman, a stout old soldier who enjoys other people's wine. Rupert explains that his mortgages are about to fall due. The holder of the last and worst one is Miss Wharf, a woman who hates him.
The family also carries a curse. Centuries ago an Ainsleigh burned Abbot Raoul in his own cloisters, and a blackened square of grass still marks the spot. The abbot's rough rhyme says the curse will only end when love and fortune come together in the family, through the very ashes of the abbey. Tidman laughs at all of it and blames the family's bad luck on bad management.
Rupert does love a poor girl, Olivia Rayner, who lives with Miss Wharf. The Major advises him to marry an heiress instead. He also lists the people who stand in the way. Miss Wharf dislikes Rupert, her companion Miss Pewsey is a cat in a poke bonnet, and Lady Jabe wants Olivia for her own nephew, Chris Walker.
Then Rupert hands over a slip cut from the Daily Telegraph. It offers wealth and long life to whoever gives a jade fan with four and a half beads to a man named Hwei, and the doom of a god named Kwang-ho to anyone who refuses. The address is a joss house in Whitechapel. The names of a river and a province in it match the place where Rupert's father, Markham, went to find gold before he died in China.
Rupert decides the fan might pay off his debts and save his home. Tidman tells him it is a crazy plan, yet he listens closely. The chapter closes with Rupert determined to find Dr. Forge, his father's old friend, and ask what he knows.
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 L’Éventail du mandarin
What is The Mandarin's Fan about?
It follows Rupert Ainsleigh, who must save his ancestral home, Royabay. He hunts for a jade fan that a Chinese mandarin wants back. A murder at a seaside ball and a rivalry between two Chinese agents turn his search into a mystery.
Who is Lo-Keong in The Mandarin's Fan?
Lo-Keong is a learned, powerful mandarin who owns the fan. He was a friend of Rupert's father and holds a secret tied to the fan. He arrives in England in person to recover what he has lost.
What is the curse of Abbot Raoul?
It is an old rhyme spoken by a monk burned in the abbey cloisters. It says the Ainsleighs will suffer until a poor Ainsleigh marries a poor girl he loves and gold comes from the holy ashes.
Is The Mandarin's Fan a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Fergus Hume, set in the first year of the twentieth century. It uses real background such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Dowager Empress, but its people and plot are invented.
Is The Mandarin's Fan easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short, the dialogue is lively and the plot moves quickly. Hume's humorous character sketches and frequent cliffhangers make it easy to follow from one scene to the next.