Riassunto
Riassunto di Alice, o i misteri
A chi è rivolto
Readers who love Victorian romance, family secrets and elegant villains will enjoy this, as will anyone drawn to stories of honor and temptation, of country houses and Parisian salons, and of ideals tested by love.
Che cos’è questo libro
Alice, or the Mysteries is a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who died in 1873. It is the second half of the story of Ernest Maltravers, a gifted writer whose youth ended in loss. Here he is a grave, proud man of thirty-six, home from years in the East and sure that he has finished with love. The book takes you through English country houses, a clergyman's quiet cottage, the salons of Paris and the corridors of Westminster.
At its center is Evelyn Cameron, a seventeen-year-old heiress raised by the sea in Devonshire. A dead benefactor wanted her to marry his nephew, Lord Vargrave, a charming and ruthless minister who needs her money badly. She cannot love him. Meanwhile her mother, Lady Vargrave, carries a sorrow that nobody is allowed to name.
Bulwer-Lytton gives you a love story, a tale of political scheming, and a running argument about pride, honor and duty. Each strand is carried by vivid people, from the stammering banker to the vain young lord. Let us begin in a cottage garden above the sea, where a girl is about to be sent away from home.
In questo riassunto
- 1A girl is sent away from homeFree
- 2An heiress becomes a guest of honor
- 3A proud man learns to hope again
- 4A minister who lives on borrowed money
- 5A debt of honor and a stranger's pain
- 6Love that must stay silent
- 7Paris, ideas and a wandering madman
- 8Pride, honor and the claims of duty
- 9How the tale is told
Punto chiave 1 di 9
A girl is sent away from home
The story opens on an April evening at a cottage in Brook-Green, Devonshire. Lady Vargrave, a gentle woman who looks younger than her years, sits with her old friend Mrs. Leslie. They worry about Evelyn, who will soon be asked to accept or refuse Lord Vargrave. He is the nephew of her late husband, and the old lord hoped the two would marry. Mrs. Leslie has heard that the nephew is artful and cold, and she fears for the girl's happiness.
Evelyn herself bounds across the lawn with her great Newfoundland dog, Sultan, all light and laughter. She sings sweetly and loves the books of Ernest Maltravers, whose verses stir her mother in a strange way. Her teacher is Mr. Aubrey, the old curate, the kindest man in the parish. One morning she asks him why her mother never speaks of her early life. He answers that Lady Vargrave has known trials, and that love should wait for confidence rather than demand it.
Mrs. Leslie's daughter, Mrs. Merton, arrives with her own daughter Caroline, a handsome, worldly girl of twenty-three. The two girls become friends, though they could hardly be more unlike. Caroline teases Evelyn about her seclusion and her coming title, and Evelyn admits that she shudders at the thought of marrying Lord Vargrave. The Mertons invite her to their rectory in another county so that she may see more of life before her eighteenth birthday.
Lady Vargrave agrees, though it costs her dearly. In one quiet scene she shows Mrs. Leslie a drawer holding the ragged dress of a peasant girl, a reminder of how she was first sheltered. She says she is not fit to guide a young woman through the world. Then Lord Vargrave himself drives up, delighted with everyone and quick to charm the guests. Alone in his room, he calls Caroline amusing and thinks she may be useful for making Evelyn jealous.
On the last night Evelyn creeps into her mother's room, and for once mother and daughter weep and hold each other as equals. The next morning the carriages leave. Lady Vargrave watches them go, then walks alone into the churchyard. These first chapters set the tone: a calm village, a lovely girl, a hidden grief and a suitor whose smile does not reach his eyes.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Alice, o i misteri
What is Alice, or the Mysteries about?
It follows Ernest Maltravers, a proud writer, and Evelyn Cameron, a young heiress promised to the scheming Lord Vargrave. Their love, a family secret and a minister's ambitions carry the story from Devonshire to Paris.
Do I need to read Ernest Maltravers first?
It helps, since this novel continues Maltravers's story. However, the book recalls his earlier loves and losses clearly enough that a new reader can follow the plot and the people without trouble.
Who is Lord Vargrave in the novel?
Lumley Ferrers, a clever, ambitious minister who inherited his uncle's title but not his fortune. He wants to marry Evelyn for her money, and he is the book's charming, cold-hearted schemer.
Is Alice, or the Mysteries a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It mixes invented characters with real settings such as Parliament, English county life and Paris in the 1830s, and it shows how politics and society looked then.
What is the main message of the book?
The novel argues that pride and cold philosophy fail a person, while work, loyalty and love give a life its purpose. It also holds that people who err can find atonement and hope.