Story summary
Samenvatting van Salthaven
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A sea captain, a pretend bride and a boy with a vivarium turn a quiet harbour town upside down.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · We mailen je voordat je betaalt · Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Salthaven in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 3 h 50 min3 h fast, 4 h 30 min slow
- Lengte
- 54.200 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Makkelijk short sentences, plain words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1908by W. W. Jacobs
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van Salthaven, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
Salthaven in short
Salthaven follows a small group of people in a harbour town as they try to arrange their lives to suit other people. A chief clerk is threatened with the loss of his place. A young partner falls in love with the clerk's daughter.
What Salthaven is about
What if a sea captain, who thinks every event was planned millions of years ago, took it on himself to arrange two love affairs at once? That is the mischief at the heart of Salthaven, a comic novel of a busy harbour town. It was written by W. W. Jacobs, who knew ships, clerks and quayside talk well.
It begins in the office of Vyner and Son, ship-owners, where the chief clerk Mr. Hartley learns that the owner's son Robert is about to join the firm.
Voor wie is het?. You will enjoy this if you like gentle English humour, comic schemes that go wrong, sea captains with strong opinions and love stories where the funniest people are the servants and clerks.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A new partner arrives and shakes the office
The novel opens in the office of Vyner and Son. Mr. John Vyner tells his chief clerk, Mr. Hartley, that his son Robert will soon join the firm. Robert will take Hartley's old room, the one with the view of the bridge and the harbour.
Hartley has served the firm for thirty-five years, and he accepts the news with a bow and a small sigh. At home he meets other small defeats. His maid Rosa is laughing with a man in the kitchen, and he ends up weeding the garden with his back to her window. There he meets Saunders, a young clerk with a bag of bindweed roots he believes are pretty flowers. Saunders hopes to see Joan, Hartley's daughter, but Hartley makes him dig until half past eight and she never appears.
Robert, meanwhile, finds office life dull and spins in his new swivel chair.
Every character has a modest wish, and every wish meets a polite obstacle.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
Captain Trimblett plans other people's lives
Captain Trimblett commands the steamship Indian Chief, and he has two beliefs.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
Peter Truefitt cannot tell his sister he is engaged
Peter Truefitt is a short, red-faced man who keeps house with his sister, Mrs. Susanna Chinnery.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
Robert and Joan keep meeting by accident
Robert gets a chance to talk with Joan when she comes to the office to find her father.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
Rosa and the boatswain fight their way to an understanding
The second romance belongs to the servants.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
Mr. Vyner makes a threat and Joan makes a plan
Joan has not encouraged Robert since the breakfast table, but the whole town can see where things are going.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
A false marriage brings very real consequences
Joan sends the letter to her father before the captain's refusal arrives.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
Love in Salthaven runs up against rank and money
Beneath the jokes lies a question about class.
- 9Begin gratis met lezen
Fate, promises and good intentions drive the plot
Captain Trimblett's favourite word is fate, and he uses it for every event, from his tarred trousers to a shipmate who found a wife by losing a leg.
- 10Begin gratis met lezen
How the story is told in quick scenes
The book moves on talk.
Read all 10 key ideas now
3 months free, then USD 0,14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- We mailen je voordat je betaalt
- Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Joan Hartley The chief clerk's clever, quick-witted daughter, who wants to protect her father's position and keeps control of her own heart.
- Robert Vyner The young junior partner, cheerful and teasing, who wants Joan and uses every excuse to be near her.
- Mr. Hartley The gentle chief clerk of thirty-five years, who loves his garden and wants only a quiet life for himself and his daughter.
- Captain Trimblett A bearded sea captain who believes in fate, gives advice to everyone and wants most of all to be left unmarried.
- Peter Truefitt A fifty-two-year-old bachelor, engaged in secret, who wants to marry Miss Willett without hurting his sister.
- Rosa Jelks The Hartleys' yellow-haired maid, sharp-tongued and flirtatious, who wants a husband on her own terms.
- Mr. Walters The captain's tough, jealous boatswain, who swears off women and wants Rosa to behave herself.
- Bassett The earnest office boy in spectacles, fond of rules, shorthand and frogs, who wants to do his duty.
How it ends (spoiler)
Captain Trimblett returns ill from the sea and settles ashore, where his false marriage is explained away as a gallant act. Robert tells his father that Joan is not married, and after a stormy talk Mr. Vyner gives way, so Robert and Joan may marry and Hartley keeps his place with a small share in the firm. Truefitt and Cecilia marry at last, and the captain is left cleaning Walsh's salad bowl.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of Salthaven opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Vragen over Salthaven
What is Salthaven about?
It is a comic novel about a harbour town where a chief clerk's daughter, a shipowner's son and a sea captain get caught up in schemes about love, rank and marriage, with neighbours and servants adding their own plots.
Who is Captain Trimblett in Salthaven?
He is the bearded captain of the steamship Indian Chief. He believes in fate, gives advice freely, lodges at Tranquil Vale and is a close friend of Mr. Hartley, whose family he tries to help.
When was Salthaven written and is it a true story?
W. W. Jacobs wrote it as an Edwardian comedy. It is fiction, though its harbour setting, ships, offices and cottages for retired sailors reflect the working seaport life that Jacobs knew well.
Is Salthaven easy to read?
Yes, the style is friendly and the chapters are short. Most of the story is told through lively conversation, so the jokes, characters and plots are easy to follow, even when several storylines run together.
What is the main message of Salthaven?
The book suggests that love and kindness matter more than rank, and that good intentions, a few white lies and a little humour can lead a whole town to some very funny trouble.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Jacobs, W. W. Salthaven. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/salthaven.
Jacobs, W. W. (2026). Salthaven. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/salthaven (Original work published 1908)
Jacobs, W. W. Salthaven. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/salthaven.
@book{jacobs2026salthaven,
author = {Jacobs, W. W.},
title = {Salthaven},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/salthaven},
note = {First published 1908}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian Gray3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van Salthaven, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
