The moors and the fens, volume 1 (of 3) by Mrs. J. H. Riddell
"The moors and the fens, volume 1 (of 3)" by Mrs. J. H. Riddell is a novel written in the mid-19th century. It unfolds as a multi-strand family and society drama moving between the desolate Lincolnshire fens, bustling London, and the Scottish Highlands, centering on a miserly baronet’s household, a calculating London clerk, and a sensitive bereaved child. Themes of money, pride, duty, and the longing for freedom run through the lives
of Ernest and Henry Ivraine, Alfred Westwood, and Mina Frazer. The opening of this novel contrasts stark landscapes and temperaments: at “Paradise,” a bleak fenland estate, silent, brooding Ernest Ivraine resists his impetuous brother Henry’s plan to flee poverty and enlist, while their miser father refuses even a modest debt and coldly drives Henry to depart at dawn, leaving Ernest to guard the hoped-for inheritance. The scene then shifts to London, where the vain, ambitious Alfred Westwood—an ex-bankrupt who coolly manipulates an insurance office into saving his career—rises to become chief clerk to wealthy merchant Mr. Merapie and is tasked with welcoming Merapie’s widowed sister and her children. In the Highlands by Loch Lomond, young Mina Frazer tenderly witnesses her father’s death and struggles with grief, as her cautious laird-uncle urges a quiet rural life and her mother, newly impoverished, resolves to rely on her brother in London and “civilize” Mina. By the end of the opening, death, debt, and divergent choices have set the key threads in motion—flight and endurance in the fens, ambition in the city, and a child’s uncertain future pulled from moorland freedom toward London. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Riddell, J. H., Mrs., 1832-1906 |
|---|---|
| Title | The moors and the fens, volume 1 (of 3) |
| Original Publication | London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1858. |
| Credits | Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Great Britain -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77931 |
| Release Date | Feb 14, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 225 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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