My Flirtations

by Ella Hepworth Dixon

In the dining-room the prim, thin Chippendale furniture was ranged against a pale-coloured wall, while the round table, with its fine damask and Georgian silver, and the soft lamplight illumining a great bowl of flowers, was somehow suggestive of brilliant talk and dainty fare. But Mr. Clancy was always modest about his possessions. 'It's so sweet of you to like my things,' he would say deprecatingly to some fashionable lady who was going round his rooms sniffing up ideas. 'I never care for anything I have. It's so good of you to like my poor little cottage.'

Genres: Classics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

Ella Hepworth Dixon (1855-1932) was a British author during the late Victorian period. Her best known work is the New Woman novel The Story of a Modern Woman. This novel was published in 1894.

Reviews

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful quick Victorian read.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened to find the Librovox recording on Spotify thanks to listening to The Semi-Detached House. I recognized the title from Katie at Books and Things' BookTube channel and so started right in. This is the story of Margaret, a young woman whose father is a well-known portrait painter. Her father often asks Margaret to remain in the room while he paints and his subjects like to visit the family because of her father's fame. Margaret, or Peggy, gets to know lots of interesting people this way and so spends each chapter detailing her "flirtations". It's mostly her describing the quirkiness of these very different men. It's all rather innocent and amusing. It's such a fun glimpse into a well-off family in the 1890s. Peggy has a sister named Christina who views all Peggy's antics with men with a good sisterly eyeroll. I walked around as I listened with a smile on my face through a good half of the audiobook. It's quick, fun, and a perfect contrast to some of the more tragic and/or long Victorian novels.