Home, Sweet Home: A Novel - Softcover

Mrs. Riddell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0461402580 ISBN 13: 9780461402582

Publisher: HardPress, 2016

Synopsis

Home, Sweet Home: A Novel by Mrs. Riddell. A memoir?like novel told in the first person by Annie Trenet, a girl raised in Lovedale, a secluded rural English community. The narrator recounts a life of contrasts between the modest Motfield cottage and the Great House of the Wiffordes, with Miss Elizabeth Cleeves as a figure of social intrigue. Through Annie's eyes we witness village life, a theatre? and artist?crazy social circle, and the pull of art and music against strict propriety. After the death of her beloved grandmother, and with threats of displacement by the Wiffordes, Annie's world shifts toward education and an uncertain future. The book explores themes of class, gender, independence, and the cost of talent, culminating in a promise of a new life in London under a guardian's guidance, as Annie confronts the tug between desire for freedom and loyalty to family. Rid dell’s narrative voice blends memory and moral reflection; the countryside settings—the Love river, Lovedale, Fairport—are drawn with affectionate detail. The novel scrutinizes the tension between traditional rural virtue and the temptations of urban culture, from Miss Cleeves and Miss Wifforde to the sensational opera world. It also contemplates the price of self?expression, the lure of the stage, and the resilience required to follow one's gift in a world of social constraints.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461402580
• ISBN 13: 9780461402582
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336