Summary
Summary of The Beckoning Hand, and Other Stories
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A mistaken reading can change everything
A glance, a clue or a mistaken judgment can send a life in the wrong direction. Grant Allen gathers thirteen tales around people who misunderstand others or themselves. A bride feels the pull of a beckoning hand, a collector faces an accusation of theft, and a surgeon writes a confession in a freezing hut.
The settings range from London drawing rooms to Haiti, Siberia and Jamaica. Across these different worlds, rueful comedy can turn to dread as someone becomes certain of something he has misunderstood.
Key idea 2
Harry cannot explain his own choice
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Key idea 3
Lonely travelers mistake kindness for romance
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Key idea 4
Marriage leaves room for mistaken evidence
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Key idea 5
An innocent collector faces damning evidence
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Key idea 6
Twin likeness turns love into rivalry
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Key idea 7
Polished manners and promised riches deceive
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Key idea 8
Hidden discoveries put loyalty at stake
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Key idea 9
Small clues lead people down wrong roads
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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 short fiction, from comic mix-ups to haunted marriages and Arctic confessions, will find a tale for each mood. It suits anyone who likes clues, ciphers and narrators who tell on themselves.
What this book is
What if a single misread glance could ruin a life? In The Beckoning Hand, and Other Stories, Grant Allen, a Victorian writer who died in 1899, gathers thirteen tales in which someone misreads another person, a clue or himself. A bride is drawn by a beckoning hand, a collector is accused of theft at the British Museum, and a surgeon writes a confession in a freezing hut. The scenes travel from London drawing rooms to Haiti, Siberia and Jamaica. The mood shifts from rueful comedy to cold dread, often within one story.
In this summary
- 1A striking bride and a beckoning handFree
- 2Two young Englishmen misread two charming women
- 3Secret absences and a secret letter
- 4A museum coin vanishes and a collector is blamed
- 5Comic dilemmas of a name and a fossil
- 6Twins who fall for the same girl
- 7A Siberian baron and a pirate's chest
- 8Confessions and debts of honor
- 9What binds these thirteen tales together
Key point 1 of 9
A striking bride and a beckoning hand
In the title story, Harry Tristram, twenty-two and master of a Devonshire estate, tells his own tale. At a London theater he sees Césarine Vivian, a dark and queenly woman. Something in her gaze repels him, and he cannot look away.
When a cry of fire sends the audience stampeding, she alone stays calm. She goes back into the smoke for her opera glasses, and Harry follows. Her cool nerve fixes her in his mind.
He meant to propose to his old friend Irene Latham that very week. Instead he hears himself proposing to Césarine and cannot explain the words afterward. The dread grows from small gestures and a sense that his will is no longer his own.
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
What recurring habit connects the people in these tales?
Right. “The stories share a habit of misreading.”Not quite. “The stories share a habit of misreading.”
Why does Ernest become even angrier at Harold's scheme?
Right. “He is furious, and angrier still because he knows he would have done the same.”Not quite. “He is furious, and angrier still because he knows he would have done the same.”
How does the search for pirate treasure affect the clerk?
Right. “The tale is a portrait of obsession, and it watches him excuse each lie by the riches to come.”Not quite. “The tale is a portrait of obsession, and it watches him excuse each lie by the riches to come.”
Questions about The Beckoning Hand, and Other Stories
What is The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories about?
It is a collection of thirteen Victorian short stories by Grant Allen. They deal with love, money, jealousy and obsession, in settings from Devonshire to Haiti and the Arctic, and each story turns on a person who misreads a clue.
Which stories are in The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories?
The book contains The Beckoning Hand, Lucretia, The Third Time, The Gold Wulfric, My Uncle's Will, The Two Carnegies, Olga Davidoff's Husband, John Cann's Treasure, Isaline and I, Professor Milliter's Dilemma, In Strict Confidence, The Search Party's Find and Harry's Inheritance.
Who is Césarine Vivian in The Beckoning Hand?
Césarine is a tall, dark-haired young woman brought up between England, France and Haiti. Harry Tristram meets her at a London theater, is both attracted and afraid, and marries her. She often speaks of a hand that beckons her home.
Is The Gold Wulfric based on a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction. Allen builds it on the real hobby of coin collecting and on the rules of the British Museum, then uses a missing coin, a trial and a prison term to make a puzzle of innocence.
Is The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories easy to read?
The stories are approachable. They have short numbered sections, plenty of dialogue, narrators who speak directly to you, and plots that move quickly from a clear opening to a sharp final turn.
