7 h 14 minAudiobook18 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 14 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How does a spirited young woman find her own path when society has ideas about who she should be?
In The Cricket, Marjorie Benton Cooke follows a bright, determined young woman as she meets the world around her. Her high spirits and sharp tongue give this classic novel its starting point. At its heart is a search for a true self: how to face other people's expectations without losing the wish to choose for yourself.
Society, ambition, work and love frame that search. The novel belongs to early twentieth-century American fiction, with its interest in women's changing lives and their wish to be useful. Cooke brings a spirited heroine to questions that feel personal: what to make of your abilities, how to live among others, and what kind of person to become.
What you’ll discover
- A bright, determined heroine Meet a young woman whose high spirits bring energy to her search for herself.
- Society and the self Explore the tension between a woman's own wishes and the expectations around her.
- Ambition with a purpose Consider how the wish to be useful shapes questions about a woman's path.
- Work and love Discover a story for readers curious about how women of this era weigh both.
- A search through trial Follow the idea of finding a true self through encounters with the wider world.
Who will love it
Readers who love a spirited heroine, a quick comic scene and a warm-hearted romance, and anyone curious about girlhood, stage dreams and high society a century ago.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A birthday party goes wrong
- A father learns he has a daughter
- Ann Barnes brings love and loses her place
- A governess who tells stories
- A night in the woods and a school far away
- Hill Top and the Benjamins
- A made-up father and a school that squeezes her
- The yacht, the actor and the wrong Mary
- Bermuda, a Chinese coat and a French godson
- What the story is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Isabelle BryceA plain, quick-witted girl who invents plays, tall tales and adventures to fill the loneliness of a house where nobody has time for her.
- Wally BryceHer small, timid, good-natured father, who is amazed to discover that he likes his daughter and tries clumsily to look after her.
- Max BryceIsabelle's beautiful, sharp-tongued mother, who says plainly that she never wanted a child and keeps her distance.
- Ann BarnesA warm young governess from a large Vermont family who gives Isabelle her first taste of tenderness.
- Miss WattsA well-read English governess whose humor, calm and stories earn Isabelle's respect and keep her company for years.
- Martin ChristiansenA literary critic and family friend who sees Isabelle's talent and becomes her adviser and ally.
- Adam and Phoebe BenjaminQuaker teachers at Hill Top School who love Isabelle, give her responsibility and treat her as the daughter she never had.
- Larry O'LearyA wounded Irish captain with a gift for charm, who calls Isabelle Cricket and meets a match for his wit.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 7 h 14 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 18 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Le Criquet in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Le Criquet
by Marjorie Benton Cooke · 1915
A rich girl nobody wants rides a horse into a drawing room, takes the stage and chases a hero across the sea.
Easy read5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Cricket is a novel by Marjorie Benton Cooke, an American writer who died in 1920. It follows Isabelle Bryce from her fourth birthday to the edge of womanhood, in the years around the First World War.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A birthday party goes wrong
The story opens on a hot summer day at The Beeches, the Bryce country home. Isabelle is four years old, and she refuses to put on her party dress. Her governess, Miss Wilder, tries to calm her by describing barbarians, savage people who live in trees, eat roots and wear no clothes. Isabelle is delighted, and that is the beginning of the trouble.
Miss Wilder carries the problem to Mrs. Bryce, who lies on a chaise longue with a book and an iced drink. Mrs. Bryce, whom everyone calls Max, has no wish to be bothered. She calls her daughter a brat and says she hired a governess so that someone else would deal with her. When Isabelle appears in a petticoat and socks, she names her price. She will attend the party only if her friend Patsy, the gardener's son, is invited too.
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What is The Cricket by Marjorie Benton Cooke about?
It follows Isabelle Bryce from a rebellious four-year-old to a young woman. Her rich parents neglect her, and she gets through governesses, schools, a stage career and a trip to Bermuda, finding both mischief and love along the way.
Why is Isabelle called the Cricket?
Jerry Paxton, a young man on a yacht cruise, says she looks like a cricket because she sits quiet and then bursts into chirping energy. Later, Captain Larry O'Leary uses the nickname too, and it becomes a sign of affection.
Who are Max and Wally in the book?
They are Isabelle's parents, Mrs. Walter Bryce and Walter Bryce. Isabelle calls them by those nicknames from childhood. Max is a stylish, impatient socialite and Wally a kind, anxious man with a fortune, and both struggle to understand their daughter.
The author
Marjorie Benton Cooke
1876–1920 · American novelist and playwright
Marjorie Benton Cooke was an American novelist, playwright, and monologue performer. She was born in 1876 and died in 1920. She lived in the United States and wrote during the early twentieth century. Her novels include Bambi, published in 1914, and The Cricket, published in 1915.
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