6 h 40 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a harbour town full of gossip, love has more than two people to please.
Salthaven by W. W. Jacobs brings you close to a coastal community of tradesmen, seafarers and neighbours with opinions to share. Courtship takes place within earshot of local gossip. Love and loyalty matter here, but so do the social rules that make honest feelings awkward to express.
Jacobs finds comedy in plain talk, dry replies and the things people leave unsaid. Money, family approval and local opinion shape the question of who may marry whom. His warm, amused view of human weakness gives this Edwardian romance its gentle humour, inviting you to notice the feelings beneath the manners.
What you’ll discover
- A harbour community Step into a small coastal world of tradesmen, seafarers, gossip and courtship.
- Wit between the words Enjoy short, dry exchanges where what remains unsaid carries much of the joke.
- Courtship under watchful eyes Explore how money, family approval and neighbours' opinions complicate the course of love.
- Warmth behind the humour Meet human weakness through an amused gaze that stays gentle rather than harsh.
- Edwardian manners up close Discover the awkward distance between honest feeling and the rules that govern courtship.
Who will love it
Readers who like lively dialogue, gentle comedy and matchmaking schemes that go wrong, and anyone who enjoys a seaside town full of gossips, sailors, shy suitors and a cheerful pair of young lovers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Chief Clerk Loses His Room
- A Captain Who Believes in Fate
- A Spinning Chair and a Missing Father
- Roses, Soil and a Surprise Breakfast
- Rosa, the Boatswain and the Ring
- The Senior Partner Draws a Line
- Truefitt, His Sister and Captain Sellers
- A Wife by Another Name
- Fate, Gossip and the Comedy of Plans
Who’s who
- Joan HartleyA quick, spirited girl who keeps house for her father and wants to protect him, and to choose for herself.
- Robert VynerThe junior partner, a cheerful and idle young man who falls for Joan and will try any trick to be near her.
- Nathaniel HartleyThe gentle chief clerk of thirty-five years' service, who loves his garden and fears for his post and his daughter.
- Captain TrimblettA kind, gloomy sea captain who believes in fate and meddles in everyone's affairs with the best of intentions.
- John VynerThe proud senior partner, who has fixed views on class and marriage and uses his power over Hartley to enforce them.
- Rosa JelksHartley's quick-witted maid with bright yellow hair, who wants a proper courtship and means to get it.
- Mr WaltersThe captain's boatswain, a big seaman who claims to despise women and wants only to be left alone.
- BassettThe solemn office boy with a vivarium of frogs, who follows every rule and suffers for it.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Salthaven
by W. W. Jacobs · 1908
A ship-owner's son and a chief clerk's daughter fall in love in Salthaven, and a sea captain's meddling makes it worse.
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In short
Salthaven is a comic novel of 1900s English small-town life, written by W. W.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Chief Clerk Loses His Room
The story opens at Vyner and Son, a shipping firm in Salthaven. The senior partner, Mr John Vyner, tells his chief clerk, Nathaniel Hartley, that his son Robert will soon join the business. Robert has spent three years at Cambridge and two more traveling the world to study how other nations do business. Hartley must give up his room, the one he has used for ten of his thirty-five years with the firm.
Hartley is a mild man with a loving garden and a bossy household. At home his daughter Joan has left strict orders about the maid, Rosa, and her male visitors. When voices rumble in the kitchen, Hartley coughs, rings the bell and invents excuses, and Rosa defeats him each time. He finally retreats to his flower beds, which is where he feels brave.
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What is Salthaven by W. W. Jacobs about?
It is a comic romance set in a harbor town. A shipping firm's junior partner loves his chief clerk's daughter, while a fate-minded sea captain, a deaf neighbor, a maid and a boatswain complicate everything with well-meant schemes.
Who is Captain Trimblett in Salthaven?
He is the elderly master of the steamer Indian Chief. He is kind, gloomy and sure that fate arranges everything, and he is always trying to help his friends in ways that make matters worse for himself.
When was Salthaven written and is it a true story?
It is a work of fiction by W. W. Jacobs, set in the Edwardian era. The town and characters are invented, though the details of ships, offices and cottages reflect the author's knowledge of English harbor life.
The author
W. W. Jacobs
1863–1943 · English humorist and fiction writer
William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was an English writer of short stories and novels. He was born in London and lived in England. His books include the story collection Sea Urchins (1898) and the novels A Master of Craft (1900) and Salthaven (1909). He died in London.
More by W. W. Jacobs
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