Summary
Summary of Saved from Herself
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Kindness gives Ismay a new hope
Ismay Trelane has come home from boarding school to a mother who wants her out of sight. Hungry and unwanted, she leaves the house and goes alone to the Palace Theatre. When the attention of strangers makes her retreat, a gray-eyed man notices her distress and offers food and kindness.
He takes her home without learning her name or giving his own. For Ismay, who says nobody has ever been kind to her before, the meeting becomes a promise to herself: she will find him again.
Key idea 2
A photograph threatens her mother
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Key idea 3
Wray puts a price on silence
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Key idea 4
Love meets an unexpected loyalty
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Key idea 5
A will gives Wray another weapon
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Key idea 6
Ismay overhears the threat to Cristiane
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Key idea 7
A scarab opens another possibility
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Key idea 8
A rescue becomes a damaging lie
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Key idea 9
Self protection competes with caring
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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
Readers who enjoy Victorian sensation novels, with poisonings, forged wills, haunted rooms and heroines of fierce will, will find plenty here, as will anyone who likes a love story wrapped around a mystery.
What this book is
Saved from Herself is a Victorian thriller by Adelaide Stirling, set in the London and country houses of a late nineteenth century England of music halls, hansom cabs and great estates. It tells of Ismay Trelane, a girl of seventeen with dark green eyes, a hungry childhood and a mother who would rather not have her at home. It gives you a murder, a blackmailer, a haunted room and a love that cannot be spoken aloud.
The book opens on a lonely November night. Ismay slips out of a shabby London house, climbs onto an omnibus and finds a kind stranger at a variety theater. The next day a nobleman lies dead in a room full of pink flowers, and Ismay's mother has reason to fear the police. From there the story moves to the great house of Marchant's Hold, where a trusting heiress, a scheming lawyer and a girl who has never been loved all come under one roof.
The tale runs on secrets, disguises and dangerous bargains. Let us begin with the night at the Palace Theatre, where Ismay meets a face she will never forget.
In this summary
- 1A lonely girl finds a kind strangerFree
- 2A death in the rose-colored room
- 3A blackmailer collects his price
- 4A dying baronet chooses a guardian
- 5The man from the theater is Cylmer
- 6A forged will and a dead man's money
- 7What Ismay overheard behind the bookshelves
- 8Love, a clue and a ring
- 9The frozen lake and a spiteful rival
Key point 1 of 9
A lonely girl finds a kind stranger
The story begins in Brompton Square, where Mrs. Trelane is dressing for a visit from Lord Abbotsford. Her daughter Ismay has come home from a cheap boarding school, and now she wants the girl out of sight. Ismay, seventeen and dressed in shabby black serge, is told to keep away from the guest. The mother has spent her last money on dinners for the young lord and hopes to marry him for his title.
Refusing the bread and tea sent up on a tray, Ismay takes ten shillings and goes out into the November dark. She rides an omnibus to Piccadilly and buys a ticket at the Palace Theatre. The place is loud, smoky and full of men who stare at her. When a Frenchman speaks rudely to her, she sweeps away and hides at a balustrade.
There a tall, gray-eyed man with black pearl studs overhears her anger and offers help. He sees she is hungry, orders sandwiches and cherry brandy, and treats her as he would a duchess. She tells him he is the first person who has ever been kind to her.
He takes her home in a hansom cab. She will not tell her name and will not hear his. Yet she swears to herself that she will find him again, even if she has to walk the world to do it.
That single evening shapes everything that follows. It gives Ismay a face to remember and a hope that is worth the price of her pride.
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 Ismay become determined to find the stranger from the theater?
Right. “She tells him he is the first person who has ever been kind to her.”Not quite. “She tells him he is the first person who has ever been kind to her.”
How does Wray plan to control the estate?
Right. “If the heiress dies, he can control the money through Helen and through Ismay's hand in marriage.”Not quite. “If the heiress dies, he can control the money through Helen and through Ismay's hand in marriage.”
What does Ismay realize when she sees the scarab?
Right. “That means someone else was in the room.”Not quite. “That means someone else was in the room.”
Questions about Saved from Herself
What is Saved from Herself about?
It is about Ismay Trelane, a neglected girl who is drawn into a nobleman's murder, a blackmailer's plot and a fight over a family fortune, while falling in love with the man who is hunting the killer.
Who is Marcus Wray in Saved from Herself?
He is a clever, unscrupulous barrister who blackmails Ismay's mother over stolen diamonds and forges a will. He wants the Le Marchant fortune and wants to marry Ismay, and he is the main villain.
Where does the novel take place?
The story moves between London, with its music halls, squares and Scotland Yard, and the country estate of Marchant's Hold, an old house with a lake, a terrace of stone lions and a haunted spinet.
Is Saved from Herself a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Adelaide Stirling in the Victorian sensation style. Its murder, forged will and haunted room are invented, though it draws on real features of the period such as railways, hansom cabs and inquests.
Is Saved from Herself easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that it moves quickly. The chapters are short, each one turns on a clear scene, and the story is driven by dialogue, suspense and a vivid cast of characters.
