8 h 56 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
An architect comes to rescue a great house, while gossip gathers around the daughter hidden within it.
Gavin Ord arrives in Derbyshire too late for his waiting carriage. Rather than trust a driver who may be drunk, he carries his bag toward Melbourne Hall. The ambitious architect welcomes the walk beneath the moon. A secluded earl has invited him to preserve a Tudor mansion, a task that speaks directly to his pride in his work.
But the house has more than age behind its closed doors. Lord Melbourne keeps his daughter, Lady Evelyn, apart from society, and strangers trade conflicting stories about her mother. Gavin dismisses their gossip: the building is his concern. In Max Pemberton’s romance and adventure, that arrival brings artistic ambition into a world shaped by rank, secrecy, and reputation.
What you’ll discover
- An arrival worth following A missed carriage sends Gavin walking through moonlit Derbyshire toward an unusually private household.
- A house worth saving Melbourne Hall gives an ambitious architect a task he longs to make his own.
- A daughter behind rumors Conflicting accounts of Evelyn’s mother reveal how readily society turns uncertainty into scandal.
- An unconventional nobleman The Earl’s invitation offers tennis, fencing, and work, but pointedly promises no crowded gathering.
- Rank under quiet scrutiny A stationmaster struggles to place a gentleman whose manners and walking plans seem at odds.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like romance with a touch of mystery, grand old houses, backstage life in Edwardian London, brave heroes, hidden pasts, and journeys to wild places.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A face interrupts Gavin's plans
- Evelyn discovers freedom on the stage
- A stranger turns secrecy into danger
- The Count puts marriage on offer
- Shared danger brings them closer
- Love leads Gavin toward Romania
- A rescue mission becomes captivity
- Inheritance presses without deciding
- Love confronts a family's old guilt
Who’s who
- Lady Evelyn ForresterThe earl's sheltered daughter, who slips away to London as the actress Etta Romney and longs for freedom and love.
- Gavin OrdA rising young architect, honest and bold, who comes to restore Melbourne Hall and stays to win Evelyn.
- The Earl of MelbourneRobert Forrester, a restless adventurer turned reluctant earl, who hides a painful past and fears for his daughter.
- Count OdinA smooth Romanian adventurer who follows Evelyn and presses a claim over her father in the name of his own father.
- Charles IzardA loud, shrewd American producer who discovers Etta Romney and wants her in his company for years.
- Arthur KenyonGavin's cheerful friend, a young athlete who treats danger as a joke yet stands by him to the last.
- Georges OdinThe blind Chevalier living in the mountains, who nurses his wrongs and wants revenge on the man he once called friend.
- DjalaA young gypsy girl in the Count's following, whose loyalty and love bring her trouble.
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The Lady Evelyn 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 Lady Evelyn
by Max Pemberton · 1907
At a river crossing in Derbyshire, an architect sees a woman's face in the water at night, then meets her alive.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do if you saw a woman's face in a dark river, heard her call for help, and found the pool empty? Gavin Ord, a young architect, walks to Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire on a moonlit August night and sees exactly that.
The Lady Evelyn at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 5 min4 h 5 min fast, 6 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 72,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1907by Max Pemberton
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 face in the river
Gavin Ord, a rising architect, steps off the train in Derbyshire and chooses to walk the five miles to Melbourne Hall. The earl has asked him to save the old Tudor house from decay. Gavin feels his career is about to reach its high point. Gossip says the earl is a recluse and his daughter a mystery, but Gavin has come to see a house, not a woman.
At the old bridge of five Roman arches, he hears a low woman's cry from below. It is a plea for pity, softer than a shout. He climbs the parapet and sees a fair head with streaming black hair in the ripples of a pool. When he runs down to the water, the pool is black and empty.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1907
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Pemberton, Max. The Lady Evelyn. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lady-evelyn.
Pemberton, M. (2026). The Lady Evelyn. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lady-evelyn (Original work published 1907)
Pemberton, Max. The Lady Evelyn. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lady-evelyn.
@book{pemberton2026lady,
author = {Pemberton, Max},
title = {The Lady Evelyn},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-lady-evelyn},
note = {First published 1907}
}
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What is The Lady Evelyn about?
It tells of an earl's daughter who secretly becomes a London actress, and of the Romanian count who follows her home with a claim on her father's past. An architect, Gavin Ord, falls in love with her and goes abroad to help.
Who is Etta Romney in the book?
Etta Romney is the stage name of Lady Evelyn. She uses it when she acts in Haddon Hall in London, and her success makes the name famous while her true identity stays hidden at first.
Who is Count Odin?
Count Odin is a charming Romanian whose father, Georges Odin, was once the earl's friend and rival. He follows Evelyn from London to Derbyshire and tries to use her father's past to win her hand.
The author
Max Pemberton
1863–1950 · British adventure novelist
Max Pemberton was a British novelist and journalist. He was born in Birmingham, England, in 1863 and died in 1950. He wrote adventure and crime fiction. His novels included The Iron Pirate, published in 1893, and The Lady Evelyn, published in 1906. He also worked as a magazine editor.
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