5 h 50 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 50 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the woman of your dreams is a dream no real person can match?
Richard Lancelyn carries a picture of the perfect woman in his mind. Ordinary pleasures cannot satisfy this young poet, so he sets out to seek his Golden Girl. In Richard Le Gallienne’s The Quest of the Golden Girl, longing becomes a journey from place to place, meeting to meeting.
Along the road come landscapes, weather, inns and company, all described with affection and gentle humour. The search also raises a question: can Lancelyn love an ideal and a real person at the same time? This romance lets longing lead, while its playful narrator pauses to comment, joke and sigh with the reader.
What you’ll discover
- A dream worth pursuing Follow a young poet whose imagined perfect companion makes ordinary life feel incomplete.
- The pleasures of wandering Travel through landscapes and inns where encounters give the search its light, affectionate character.
- Love beyond an ideal Explore the tension between wanting perfection and loving a person rather than a dream.
- A narrator with humour Enjoy a companionable voice that steps aside to share a joke or a sigh.
- Prose with a musical turn Linger over poetic, ornamental sentences that make room for longing as well as laughter.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy wandering narrators, English country lanes, old inns and lively talk about books and love. It suits readers who like a romance with a smile in it.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lonely bachelor sets out on pilgrimage
- The perfect woman must have a fault
- Old loves and strange stories along the road
- A petticoat and a poet make him young
- Nicolete and the fortnight on the road
- A runaway wife and the pleasure town of Yellowsands
- What the quest is really about
Who’s who
- The narratorA bookish bachelor who turns thirty, leaves his empty house and sets out on foot to find the Golden Girl.
- NicoleteA rich, romantic girl of twenty who dresses as a boy and joins the narrator for a fortnight on the road.
- RosalindA lively red-haired wife who rides a bicycle across country to find her husband after an experiment in freedom.
- OrlandoRosalind's young husband, who agrees to a month apart and is easily tempted at a pleasure resort.
- Sylvia JoyA famous dancer whose petticoat the narrator buys and carries until he meets the woman herself.
- AlastorA young city clerk who loves Shelley and dreams of being a poet, and who sees women as pure angels.
- The Major-GeneralNicolete's stern father, who arrives in his carriage to bring her home from the road.
- HebeThe narrator's First Love, a golden-haired housemaid he remembers as a dryad in disguise.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
The Quest of the Golden Girl
by Richard Le Gallienne · 1896
A thirty-year-old bachelor sets out to find the Golden Girl and buys a petticoat as a clue along the way.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
What would you do if you turned thirty, found your house empty, and had a mad idea arrive on a sunbeam? The narrator of this book packs a knapsack and walks out of his front door to look for a wife.
The Quest of the Golden Girl at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 20 min2 h 40 min fast, 4 h slow
- Length
- 48,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1896by Richard Le Gallienne
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 lonely bachelor sets out on pilgrimage
The book opens on the narrator's thirtieth birthday. His sister Margaret, who kept house with him for five years, has married and gone off on her honeymoon. Rice still lingers in the cracks of the garden path. He is left with a small library and a quiet house, and he talks to the house as if it could answer.
Next morning an idea rides into his bedroom on a sunbeam. Why has he never met the Golden Girl, the woman who would be his wife? He decides to take a staff and a knapsack, walk out of his front door, and follow wherever the road leads. The idea admits that people seldom find her after thirty, but it promises good fun on the way.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1896
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 50 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Le Gallienne, Richard. The Quest of the Golden Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-quest-of-the-golden-girl.
Le Gallienne, R. (2026). The quest of the golden girl. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-quest-of-the-golden-girl (Original work published 1896)
Le Gallienne, Richard. The Quest of the Golden Girl. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-quest-of-the-golden-girl.
@book{legallienne2026quest,
author = {Le Gallienne, Richard},
title = {The Quest of the Golden Girl},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-quest-of-the-golden-girl},
note = {First published 1896}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The Quest of the Golden Girl
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Quest of the Golden Girl about?
It follows a bachelor of thirty who leaves his home on foot to find his ideal wife. Along the way he meets a series of women and friends, falls in and out of love, and keeps learning what he really wants.
Who is Sylvia Joy in the book?
Sylvia Joy is a famous dancer whose name is written on a petticoat the narrator buys from a cottage girl. He takes the petticoat as a clue and sets out to find the woman who wore it.
Who are Aucassin and Nicolete in this story?
They are the lovers of a medieval French tale. Nicolete is reading it when the narrator meets her, and the two take its names as their own during their fortnight on the road.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
