📖 About This Book · Starvecrow Farm · by Stanley J. Weyman
First published in 1905 by LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. NEW YORK LONDON AND BOMBAY
Setting: Lake District, 1819 – a period of post-war economic depression, political unrest, and radical agitation.
Key Themes: elopement and romantic idealism · class conflict · political radicalism · surveillance and authority · women's independence.
Major Characters: Henrietta (young heroine, impulsive and romantic) · Alan Stewart (her lover, radical, secretive) · Captain Anthony Clyne (naval officer, conservative, Henrietta's former suitor) · Mrs. Gilson (landlady, blunt and perceptive) · Bess Hinkson (dark, gipsy-like, resentful) · Mr. Bishop (Bow Street runner, shrewd and persistent).
Plot Arc: The novel follows the elopement of Henrietta and Alan Stewart, their flight through the Lake District, and the shadow of pursuit and political conspiracy that hangs over their romance.
- Set against the backdrop of the post-Waterloo economic depression and the radical agitation of 1819, Starvecrow Farm tells the story of a young woman's reckless elopement and her journey toward maturity and self-discovery.
- Henrietta, just nineteen, has run away from an unhappy home with Alan Stewart, a charismatic and charming young man. They cross the treacherous Cartmel Sands and arrive at the Low Wood Inn on Lake Windermere, where they plan to spend the night before continuing to Scotland.
- But Stewart disappears before morning, leaving Henrietta to face a Bow Street runner who shows her a letter proving that Stewart is a raical agitator, a wanted man with a wife already living. Henrietta is thrust into a world of political intrigue, surveillance, and betrayal.
- Captain Anthony Clyne, the man Henrietta was meant to marry, appears and reluctantly takes charge of her. Cold and proud, he sees her as a burden and a disgrace, tainted by her elopement and proximity to criminal events. His chaplain, Mr. Sutton, is tasked with the uncomfortable duty of proposing marriage to Henrietta on Clyne's behalf.
- Meanwhile, a second plot unfolds: Clyne's young son is kidnapped by radical conspirators. Henrietta becomes entangled in the search for the child, and her courage and determination are put to the test.
- You can download the free epub version here
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