13 h 51 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 51 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a man owe the world he uses to get rich?
In Harold Frederic’s The Market-Place, a hard, clever financier returns to England after years abroad. He sees the City of London as a game to be won. With little patience for polite habits, this outsider sets out to secure both a fortune and a place in society.
His ambitions reach beyond deals and schemes toward drawing rooms, clubs and country houses. Yet the world he wants to enter welcomes wealth while looking down on those who make it. Frederic’s satire follows the bluff, hidden plans and careful timing behind his rise, leaving you to judge what success asks of him.
What you’ll discover
- An outsider with ambition Follow a financier who treats London’s money world as a contest he intends to win.
- The business of deception Watch hidden plans and carefully timed moves turn other people’s beliefs into tools for success.
- Wealth at the door Enter a society that welcomes a fortune but looks down on the person who earns it.
- Room for your judgment Frederic brings you close to the financier’s reasoning without asking you to share his values.
- The cost of getting ahead Consider what ambition demands, and what a man owes the world that enriches him.
Who will love it
For readers who like stories of money and power, sharp portraits of ambitious people, and Victorian London from the counting house to the country mansion. Fans of tales about self-made fortunes and the price of rising in the world will enjoy it.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A victory in the Board Room
- A sister who does not believe him
- How the corner was built
- A weekend at Hadlow House
- Buying a general, collecting a family
- Switzerland and a bold proposal
- The corner closes in
- Mercy, cruelty and a marriage plan
- What the story is about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Joel Stormont ThorpeA bookseller's son who returns to London after years abroad and plans a market coup that will make him rich and respectable.
- Lord PlowdenA handsome, penniless peer who joins Thorpe's board and becomes his guide into society, hoping the new fortune will rescue his family.
- Louisa DabneyThorpe's sister, who runs the family bookshop in the Strand and wants nothing from his money.
- Colin SempleA small red-haired Scottish broker who carries out Thorpe's market plan with cold skill.
- Lady CressageA beautiful, poor widow, once called the loveliest woman in London, who is unhappy in her dependent life.
- Celia MaddenA wealthy red-haired American who is frank, clever and fond of Lady Cressage, and who sees Thorpe clearly.
- General KervickLady Cressage's father, a vain and needy old soldier who sits on Thorpe's board and is ready to be bought.
- Julia and AlfredThorpe's niece and nephew, a gentle girl and a young would-be artist, who give him the family he has missed.
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
- 13 h 51 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 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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Il mercato
by Harold Frederic · 1899
A bankrupt adventurer corners the London market and sets out to buy his way into high society.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Market-Place is a novel of finance and ambition by Harold Frederic, who died in 1898. It follows Joel Stormont Thorpe, an Englishman who comes home to London after years of failure in far corners of the world, and who sets out to win a fortune and a place in society.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A victory in the Board Room
The novel begins on the evening a financial battle ends. Joel Thorpe, a forty-year-old man with a heavy face and ragged beard, sits alone in the Board Room of his new company, thrilled by what he has done. In the fire he sees the faces of his beaten enemies, men he thinks of as a single hated crowd in the South African mining market.
A visitor knocks. It is Lord Plowden, a handsome peer of thirty-four who sits on the Board. Plowden has guessed how the trick was done, and he offers to tie himself to Thorpe's rising star. Thorpe is relieved and delighted, since he feared Plowden might turn against him.
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What is The Market-Place by Harold Frederic about?
It tells of Joel Thorpe, an Englishman who comes back to London and builds a fortune by cornering the shares of his own company. He then tries to rise into high society, with a lord as his guide and a beautiful widow as his goal.
What is a corner in The Market-Place?
A corner is a market trick in which a trader buys nearly every available share, so that those who sold shares they did not own must pay whatever price he names. Thorpe uses it to squeeze a group of City financiers.
Who is Lord Plowden in the novel?
Lord Plowden is a handsome, charming peer with a famous name and almost no money. He joins Thorpe's board, helps him with society, and hopes to share in his fortune.
The author
Harold Frederic
1856–1898 · American journalist and novelist
Harold Frederic (1856–1898) was an American journalist and novelist born in Utica, New York. He moved to London in 1884 as a correspondent for The New York Times. His novels include The Damnation of Theron Ware (1896) and The Market-Place, published after his death in 1899. He died in England.
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