Summary
Summary of A Son of Perdition
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Alice refuses love born of pity
On a Cornish hillside at sunset, Julian Hardwick asks Alice Enistor to marry him. She kindly refuses: love cannot be forced, and she believes a true marriage joins souls that sound the same note. Julian admits that pity for her lonely home helped draw him to her.
Alice offers friendship instead, but asks for protection. If her father presses her to marry Don Pablo Narvaez, Julian must pretend they are engaged. Their agreement brings an immediate threat into her spiritual view of love.
Key idea 2
Her father bargains with a magician
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Key idea 3
A lost inheritance becomes a trap
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Key idea 4
New love feels like recognition
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Key idea 5
An old debt shadows their love
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Key idea 6
A welcome conceals a darker purpose
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Key idea 7
Dark influence reaches the village
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Key idea 8
Power divides into taking and giving
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Key idea 9
Growth must come from within
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
You will love this book if you enjoy spiritual mysteries, tales of reincarnation and old Cornish houses, or a love story shaped by questions of good and evil, destiny and free will.
What this book is
What if the people you love today are people you have loved, or wronged, five thousand years ago? A Son of Perdition is an occult romance by Fergus Hume, set in Cornwall and London. A pale, clairvoyant girl named Alice Enistor refuses to marry an ancient Spaniard who practices black magic. She falls for a young poet, and a kind doctor watches over them. You get a tale of love, rebirth and a struggle between two kinds of power. It opens on a hillside, with a painter's failed proposal.
In this summary
- 1A painter proposes to a girl who sees fartherFree
- 2Two men at Tremore plan to claim her
- 3A lost inheritance sets the plot moving
- 4London brings Alice a stranger who feels familiar
- 5A doctor shows Douglas a vision of the past
- 6An engagement brings an invitation to Cornwall
- 7A host smiles while his house grows darker
- 8The village stirs with jealousy and warning
- 9What the story says about love and power
Key point 1 of 9
A painter proposes to a girl who sees farther
The story opens on a Cornish hillside at sunset. Julian Hardwick, a large and honest painter, asks Alice Enistor to marry him. She says no, kindly and without a trace of embarrassment.
Alice tells him that love cannot be forced, and that a true marriage joins two souls that sound the same note. She believes in reincarnation and says she has lived many lives before this one. Julian is no deep thinker, and he admits he loved her partly out of pity for her lonely home. She sees through that at once and offers friendship instead.
She also asks him a favour. If her father pushes her toward an old Spaniard named Don Pablo Narvaez, Julian must say they are engaged. He agrees, and the two shake hands as brother and sister. This scene sets the mood of the book, where ordinary feeling meets a larger spiritual view of life.
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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Check yourself
Why does Narvaez want to marry Alice?
Right. “He wants Alice as his wife because her pure clairvoyance could be trained to read the records of the past.”Not quite. “He wants Alice as his wife because her pure clairvoyance could be trained to read the records of the past.”
What does Eberstein say stands between Douglas and Alice?
Right. “Eberstein explains that an old sin of Douglas's keeps the lovers apart.”Not quite. “Eberstein explains that an old sin of Douglas's keeps the lovers apart.”
How does Eberstein's use of power differ from Narvaez's?
Right. “Eberstein follows the Right-hand Path, which gives freely and will not force anyone, since every person has free will.”Not quite. “Eberstein follows the Right-hand Path, which gives freely and will not force anyone, since every person has free will.”
Questions about A Son of Perdition
What is A Son of Perdition about?
It follows Alice Enistor, a clairvoyant Cornish girl, and Douglas Montrose, a young poet. They are drawn together while a black magician and her father plot against them, and a wise doctor guides them through a trial rooted in an ancient past.
Who is the Son of Perdition in the book?
The phrase is used for a person who cuts himself off from love for the sake of self. Dr. Eberstein applies it to the magician Don Pablo Narvaez, and compares him to Judas Iscariot.
What does karma mean in A Son of Perdition?
It is the law of cause and effect. In the story, actions in earlier lives, especially in ancient Chaldea, shape the choices and debts the main characters face in the present.
Is A Son of Perdition a true story?
No, it is a novel. Fergus Hume wrote it in the early twentieth century and used ideas from Theosophy, such as reincarnation, astral travel and the Akashic Records, as the beliefs that drive the story.
Is A Son of Perdition easy to follow?
The story moves in clear scenes with lively talk, from a hillside proposal to a London dinner and a Cornish village. The characters often explain their beliefs, so a reader can pick up each idea as it arises.
