7 h 14 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 14 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the beauty that draws you closer is the very thing that holds you captive?
In Edith Allonby’s Marigold, night settles over Lucifram, where Prince Plucritus watches from his palace. A shining web surrounds the planet, delicate to the eye but numbing to the touch. Below lies the Silent Forest, threaded with dangerous paths and sounds of suffering. In this Gothic fantasy, beauty offers no promise of kindness.
Plucritus wears a dark cloak with glowing red clasps and carries a ruby ring that rulers covet. His rooms hold a laboratory, a library, and galleries where art carries a terrible cost. The narrator draws you nearer with questions, wit, and warnings, opening a world where temptation, identity, and the struggle between Heaven and Hell take shape.
What you’ll discover
- Beauty with a cruel purpose Meet a prince whose graceful appearance conceals cold calculation and a hunger for control.
- A world caught fast Follow the gleaming net around Lucifram, where a light touch brings an unsettling numbness.
- Power within familiar rooms Step into a study where an ordinary desk serves the record of conscious wrongdoing.
- Questions beneath the fantasy Consider temptation and identity in a world shaped by a contest between spiritual powers.
- Wit beside the darkness Encounter an inquisitive ant whose experiment turns human certainty into a sharp little joke.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy fairy tales with a sharp edge, witty talk between a mistress and her maid, and Heaven and Hell betting on a young heart will love this book.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A soul will mend the net
- Marigold turns desire into a game
- St Armand quietly encourages the priest
- Timothy makes feeling real
- Care asks Marigold to give something
- Temptation presses on hidden weaknesses
- Jokes and symbols shape the tale
- Love gives the game its stakes
Who’s who
- MarigoldThe young Princess of Ellel, who disguises herself as a beggar to chase a High Priest and discovers how much she can feel.
- AliceHer sturdy maid, schooled at a Board School, who cooks, scolds, worries and follows her mistress everywhere.
- AlphonsoThe High Priest of the Golden Serpent, proud and worn out, who wants to feel young again.
- St ArmandA white-haired, black-eyed artist and friend of the High Priest, who smiles often and gives smooth advice.
- TimothyA crippled, brave little boy, nicknamed Patches, who dreams of kings and soldiers and trusts his doctor.
- Mr BarringcourtThe doctor Timothy calls Dr Quack, cold to Marigold, tender to the boy and linked to the old days of the High Priest.
- VestnéThe Princess who stands beside the Prince of Lucifram and wants the torn net mended.
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Marigold
by Edith Allonby · 1902
A princess in rags begs a High Priest for gold and meets a doctor who will not smile.
Easy read2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What if the ruler of a world beside Hell stood at his window each night, watching a web of mist spread over a whole planet, and planned to mend a tear in it with a human soul? That is where Marigold begins.
Marigold at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h3 h 10 min fast, 4 h 45 min slow
- Length
- 57,100 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1902by Edith Allonby
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
The Prince and Princess plan to mend their net
The book opens in a dark palace on the edge of Hell. Prince Plucritus stands at a window and looks over Lucifram. He sees a gleaming web of mist wrapped around the whole planet. The narrator calls him a great spider and asks you to look closely at his handsome, cold, amused face.
A short interlude jokes about Genesis. Eve is the afterthought, made while Adam slept, and the tone teases the scientist, the churchman and the reader at once. Then Princess Vestné joins her husband. She complains that a fly has struggled through the net, and he answers that the hole must be mended with a well-seasoned soul. The mender will be Alphonso, High Priest of the Golden Serpent, who is meant to guard the road to Heaven.
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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
- 1902
- Language
- English
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Allonby, Edith. Marigold. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/marigold.
Allonby, E. (2026). Marigold. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/marigold (Original work published 1902)
Allonby, Edith. Marigold. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/marigold.
@book{allonby2026marigold,
author = {Allonby, Edith},
title = {Marigold},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/marigold},
note = {First published 1902}
}
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What is Marigold by Edith Allonby about?
It follows a young princess who disguises herself as a beggar to chase a High Priest, and finds herself in a contest between Heaven and Hell over a human soul. A nursing story and a love story grow out of her disguise.
Who is St Armand in Marigold?
St Armand is a white-haired, black-eyed artist and friend of the High Priest. He is witty, smooth and persuasive, and he gives Alphonso and Marigold advice that seems kind but always leads somewhere. Watch what each piece of advice is for.
What is the Golden Serpent in the book?
The Golden Serpent is the god worshipped in the Temple of Lucifram, with three sacred tails. The High Priest Alphonso serves it, and the book uses it to show religion made of ritual, habit and public show.
The author
Edith Allonby
1875–1905 · English novelist
Edith Allonby was a British writer who was born in 1875 and lived in England. She wrote novels in the early twentieth century, including Marigold and The Fulfilment. She died in 1905, when she was about thirty years old.
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