It’s a quirk of mine that, while I research the books for my Classics Club list, when I finally get to them, I don’t remind myself what they are about before reading them. So, when I got The Heir of Redclyffe in the Classics Club spin, I vaguely guessed from the title that it might be a gothic thriller. Boy, was I wrong.
In fact, in tone and attention to right behavior and emphasis on everyday family life, the novel reminds me more of works by Jane Austen than anything else I’ve read, although it lacks the Austen humor and sense of the absurd. In addition, it perhaps doesn’t translate as well to modern times because of its sense of piety.
The Heir of Redclyffe is the story of two cousins, the branches of whose families have long held a feud. Guy Morville is the heir, at the beginning of the novel a 17-year-old who comes under the guardianship of Mr. Edmonstone. Guy is a stranger to the Edmonstone family when he comes to stay. He has been strictly brought up out of his grandfather’s fear of his family’s violent tendencies. The Edmonstones find him charismatic and full of the joy of life but quick to temper, always attempting to control his darker impulses.
Philip Morville, Guy’s cousin from the other side of the feud, is long a friend of the Edmonstone family. He is a captain in the army, and the young Edmonstones have been used to think of him as a pattern of well-bred, right behavior. Charlie Edmonstone, an invalid, thinks him patronizing and sententious, and Amabel, who is shy, is a little afraid of him, but Laura, the oldest daughter, thinks he can do no wrong, and her parents rely on his advice.
Unfortunately, Philip takes a dislike to Guy that he does not recognize himself. Instead, he thinks he is concerned for Guy’s welfare when he interferes in Guy’s life and misconstrues his actions. Although Guy forms an excellent relationship with the Edmonstones, Philip creates serious trouble for him by almost willfully assuming the worst about him.
The latter part of this novel is full of sentimentality and pathos similar to Dickens at his “worst,” but the characters seem believable and interesting, and we care what happens to them. Perhaps modern readers won’t find the quiet and delicate but determined Amy to be the most interesting heroine, but in contemporary times she was considered a pattern of womanhood, as Guy was the epitome of the Romantic hero.
I was interested to read that in her time, Charlotte M. Yonge’s books were as popular as Dickens’s and she wrote to the service of the Oxford Movement, yet these days we don’t know her name. Like many other women writers, she was probably pushed aside by editors and academics as not as worthy to be remembered as her male counterparts.
What? Me Read? 
I had never heard of this author before! Thank you for this review. I will take a look if my library has a copy of this book, I like discovering new-to-me female writers… 🙂
Good luck finding it. I had to buy it.
I read this a few years ago and enjoyed it, but I can understand why Charlotte M. Yonge’s books are not very popular today. They’re probably too sentimental for most modern readers, I think. This was an interesting story, though, and I might try another one of her books one day.
Well, Dickens can be just as sentimental, but he also has the humor going for him.
The title would definitely have said Gothic to me too. I must admit this sounds a little too sentimental for me, but I’m glad you found it enjoyable. I can cope with Dickens’ sentimentality in short bursts, but not in huge chunks – the whole David and Dora romance in David Copperfield, for instance… ugh! 😉
It’s actually only sentimental at the end.
Agree about Dora and David Copperfield. The middle section of that book just dragged — so disappointing because the beginning and the end are great.
I like David Copperfield but obviously Dora was young and foolish, like his mother.
I was so excited to read about another Victorian woman author! I do always wonder whether they’ve been ignored because it was always men who decide what ended up as canon. The fact that you can’t even get a library copy is just sad. I found the same when I was looking for Mrs. Oliphant who was so prolific and her books are delightful.
Yes, so thank heaven for the publishers who are bringing their stuff back out. I bought an old used copy of this book because I didn’t want a print on demand book. I hate those. So, I guess none of the publishers like Persephone and Furrowed Middlebrow have picked her up.
I believe that Jo March was caught sobbing over her copy of The Heir of Redclyff!
Oh, really? What a great memory you have! Well, it certainly is a book to sob over if you’re so inclined.