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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a machine could match soulmates—but love still had a mind of its own?
In The Green Mouse, Robert W. Chambers brings an invention into the old game of courtship. A machine that matches soulmates gives this light romantic comedy its playful premise. Around it gather questions that no device can easily settle: does love begin in chance, follow destiny, or depend on the choices people make?
The pleasure lies in the talk, the mix-ups and the gentle teasing of young people in love. Chambers turns a winking eye on fashionable society and the manners of early twentieth-century America. His characters can be foolish, his dialogue aims to sparkle, and the meeting of invention and romance gives familiar hopes a comic turn.
What you’ll discover
- An invention meets romance Explore a playful premise that sets a soulmate-matching machine beside the uncertainties of human affection.
- Fate or personal choice Consider whether lovers find each other through luck, destiny, or decisions they make themselves.
- Talk with a sparkle Enjoy quick dialogue and a narrator whose teasing tone keeps courtship light and lively.
- Love's comic mix-ups Find amusement in the foolish ways young people behave when their hearts become involved.
- A world of manners Step into fashionable society, where familiar romantic hopes meet the charm of social comedy.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy quick, funny romances, absurd inventions and a father who bellows through a monocle. It suits readers who like a good laugh at fate, money and matchmaking.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Losing everything reveals a useful talent
- A green mouse brings a visitor
- A private performance becomes something personal
- A skeptical game becomes personal
- An elevator creates an unexpected courtship
- A bachelor follows an unlikely feeling
- Fear of fate meets a paperhanger
- Guaranteed love leaves little room for choice
- Love keeps fate and choice together
Who’s who
- William Augustus DestynA ruined young gentleman with a gift for magic and animals, who invents the wireless machine that finds destined partners.
- Ethelinda CarrThe painter who sees a green mouse, loves the young magician at once, and becomes his wife and partner.
- Bushwyck CarrA bald, bellowing millionaire and president of a wireless trust, who wants his daughters safe and his profits large.
- Sacharissa CarrThe eldest sister, honest and sensible, who insists on keeping her word even when it puts her in the machine's path.
- Beekman BrownA lawyer who laughs at psychic currents until a strange feeling sends him after a girl and her cat.
- BettyA quick-witted girl in a white summer dress who loves her cat Clarence and fears being told whom she must marry.
- Sybilla CarrA fencing triplet who disobeys her father and touches the machine, then braces herself for a man named George.
- Flavilla CarrThe last unmarried triplet, who refuses the machine and wants to take her chances with men.
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The Green Mouse in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Green Mouse
by Robert W. Chambers · 1910
A ruined magician, a girl who sees a green mouse, and a machine that matches soulmates by wireless spark.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Are you in love? If not, why not?”
In short
What does a ruined young gentleman do when his only assets are conjuring skills and a strange power over animals? In The Green Mouse, Robert W. Chambers opens with just such a man.
The Green Mouse at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 10 min2 h 30 min fast, 3 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 45,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1910by Robert W. Chambers
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ruined gentleman discovers his one talent
Destyn's fortune has vanished with the collapse of Steel. He has never earned a penny, and he has no idea how other people do it. When his goods are sold, every creditor is paid, and he is left with almost nothing.
What remains is a skill at conjuring, joined to a strange power over animals. So he rents two rooms on Central Park West and practices for a tour of rich summer resorts.
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Which edition is right for me
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Details
- First published
- 1910
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Chambers, Robert W. The Green Mouse. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-green-mouse.
Chambers, R. W. (2026). The green mouse. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-green-mouse (Original work published 1910)
Chambers, Robert W. The Green Mouse. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-green-mouse.
@book{chambers2026green,
author = {Chambers, Robert W.},
title = {The Green Mouse},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-green-mouse},
note = {First published 1910}
}
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What is The Green Mouse about?
It is a romantic comedy about a family that forms a company to offer mechanical matchmaking with a person's destined partner. The Carr sisters find romance in funny, unexpected ways, but Flavilla refuses to use the machine.
What does the green mouse mean in the book?
The green mouse begins as a dyed white mouse used in a magician's act, which frightens a neighbor. It then becomes the emblem and name of the matchmaking society, appearing on its calling cards.
Is The Green Mouse a true story?
No. It is a made-up comedy that mocks interest in psychic currents and wireless telegraphy. Its machine is a joke, and the book never settles whether the machine really causes the couples to fall in love.
The author
Robert W. Chambers
1865–1933 · American novelist and illustrator
Robert W. Chambers was an American writer whose 1895 collection The King in Yellow became a cornerstone of weird fiction, casting its influence over H.P. Lovecraft and generations of horror writers since. He was a successful popular novelist in his day, but this early work is what endures.
“Are you in love? If not, why not?”
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