3 h 49 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 49 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if marriage promises happiness, but brings more sorrow than comfort?
In Irene Iddesleigh, Amanda McKittrick Ros places a woman's marriage at the heart of a Victorian melodrama. Irene's life turns on choices that carry the weight of happiness or ruin. Love pulls one way; social rank pulls another. Family and money shape the question of who may marry whom, while the wishes of the heart struggle to be heard.
This 1897 romance makes no effort to keep its feelings quiet. Its narrator speaks directly to you, comments on events, and pauses to pour out emotion before the story moves on. Long, ornate sentences crowd with matching sounds. Grand speeches give love, duty, and sorrow room to swell, in a style that invites both laughter and fascination.
What you’ll discover
- A marriage under strain Follow Irene into a married life where sorrow outweighs the comfort she might hope for.
- Love against social rank Explore the distance between the heart's wishes and the demands of family, money, and position.
- A narrator with presence Meet a storyteller who addresses you directly and never lets emotion stay in the background.
- Language without restraint Enter long, ornate sentences whose matching sounds make the prose itself part of the attraction.
- Melodrama at full stretch Discover how Ros pushes familiar stories of love, duty, and sorrow toward extravagant feeling.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy Victorian melodrama, Gothic houses with locked rooms, tangled love triangles, and language piled high with ornament and feeling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lonely man imagines a wife
- Reassurance takes the place of truth
- The green dress reveals her refusal
- A fever brings hidden love to light
- A captive finds a loyal helper
- Concealment spreads beyond the first lie
- Wealth cannot replace trust in marriage
- The narrator makes every feeling audible
- Silence and pride deepen the harm
Who’s who
- Irene IddesleighAn adopted beauty who marries a baronet while loving her tutor, and who hides her true heart behind clever answers.
- Sir John DunfernA forty-year-old bachelor and owner of Dunfern Mansion who longs for a loving wife and an heir to keep his family's name.
- Oscar OtwellIrene's poor, learned tutor, who loves her in secret and writes letters that will shape her fate.
- Lord and Lady DilworthThe kindly but extravagant guardians who adopt Irene and urge her toward a rich marriage before their own financial ruin.
- Rachel HydeThe watchful housekeeper of Dunfern Mansion who resents the new mistress and carries every report to her master.
- Marjory MasonIrene's loyal maid, who will risk everything to stay close to her mistress and help her.
- Hugh DunfernThe son of Sir John and Irene, raised away from his mother and taught what his father believes about her.
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Irene Iddesleigh
by Amanda McKittrick Ros · 1897
A bride in dark green walks to the altar hating her groom, and a locked room waits at Dunfern Mansion.
Challenging2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What would you do if the home you were promised for life turned out to be a cell? In Irene Iddesleigh, a beautiful young woman marries a rich baronet while loving another man, and her lie shapes every life around her.
Irene Iddesleigh at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 10 min1 h 45 min fast, 2 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 31,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1897by Amanda McKittrick Ros
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 gloomy mansion and a bachelor who waits
The story opens with Irene walking alone on the beach, then describes Dunfern Mansion, a house more than three hundred years old, surrounded by ivy-covered walls and entered through an enormous iron gate. Yet some of the finest rooms stay locked, and when guests ask about them, they meet silence.
The owner is Sir John Dunfern, forty years old and set in his bachelor ways. Only the thought that his family's birthright might pass to strangers makes him think of marriage at all.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1897
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Ros, Amanda McKittrick. Irene Iddesleigh. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/irene-iddesleigh.
Ros, A. M. (2026). Irene Iddesleigh. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/irene-iddesleigh (Original work published 1897)
Ros, Amanda McKittrick. Irene Iddesleigh. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/irene-iddesleigh.
@book{ros2026irene,
author = {Ros, Amanda McKittrick},
title = {Irene Iddesleigh},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/irene-iddesleigh},
note = {First published 1897}
}
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What is Irene Iddesleigh about?
It follows an adopted young woman who marries a wealthy baronet, Sir John Dunfern, while loving her tutor. Her concealed feelings lead to a locked room, a daring escape, and consequences for everyone around her.
Who is Oscar Otwell in Irene Iddesleigh?
Oscar Otwell is Irene's tutor, a learned and poor young man who loves her. His letters and his role in her fate drive much of the plot, as Sir John discovers in the jewel case.
Is Irene Iddesleigh easy to follow?
The plot moves in clear steps through nineteen short chapters, with letters, speeches and scenes that stand out. The narrator speaks directly to the reader, so it is lively and even more rewarding when read aloud.
The author
Amanda McKittrick Ros
1860–1939 · Irish novelist and poet
Amanda McKittrick Ros (1860–1939) was an Irish novelist and poet. She was born in Drumaness, County Down, and lived in Larne, County Antrim, where she worked as a schoolteacher. Her first novel, Irene Iddesleigh, appeared in 1897. She published a second novel, Delina Delaney, in 1898.
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