Johnny Ludlow, Volume I

by Mrs. Henry Wood

Mrs. Ellen Wood (ne Price) (1814-1887), was an English novelist, better known as "Mrs. Henry Wood." She was born at Worcester. She wrote over 30 novels, many of which enjoyed remarkable popularity. Among the best known of her stories are Danesbury House (1860), East Lynne (1861), The Channings (1862), Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles (1862), The Shadow of Ashlydyat (1863), Verner's Pride (1863), Oswald Cray (1864) and Lord Oakburn's Daughters (1864). For many years, she worked as the proprietor and editor of the Argosy. Her most popular novel, East Lynne was a Victorian bestseller and is still sometimes performed as a drama. It is remembered chiefly for its elaborate and implausible plot, centering on double identity and bigamy. Other works include: Elster's Folly (1866), Johnny Ludlow (1868-89), Anne Hereford (1868), Bessy Rane (1870), Our Children (1876) and Lady Adelaide (1879).

308 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2008

About the author

Ellen Wood (née Price) was an English novelist, better known as "Mrs Henry Wood". She wrote over 30 novels, many of which (especially East Lynne), enjoyed remarkable popularity. Among the best known of her stories are Danesbury House, Oswald Cray, Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles, The Channings, Lord Oakburn's Daughters and The Shadow of Ashlydyat. For many years, she worked as the proprietor and editor of the Argosy.

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic! Johnny Ludlow is such a good kid. It's not the best Mrs. Henry Wood book, being a collection of short stories, but it's just like getting into a fun time machine and being plonked down in the middle of Worcestershire in the early to mid-1800s. Johnny talks about things being different from the present and how things were back then, and it feels so much like Mrs. HW is talking about the country of her own childhood as it was, although the railroads might be a bit of a fudge. Just the rural society of a few small towns and a friendly boy who is comfortable in his station and his whole community of rural people and he tells their stories so well and so daringly, like the story of the travelers' child, who dies, and the traveler, who dies, and the schoolboy, who dies, and the neighbor, who dies, and the baby, who dies, and the pointsman, who dies, and the nephew, who dies, and the child laborer, who dies, and the schoolmaster, who dies, and the cousin, who dies, and the other neighbor, who dies, and the neighbor kid, who dies, and the good wife, who dies, and the friends' kid, who dies. Maybe it's a testament to Mrs. Henry Wood's good interpretation of Christianity that this book is still an uplifting sketch of life even though almost every story ends with a lingering death. But there's so much interesting: cows, Fox and Hounds, blended families, the Squire blustering, a crazy beggar stealing children's clothes off of them, jeweled studs, bonnets. The stories where nobody dies, mainly the Sophie Chalk arc and Going to the Mop are fun and interesting. Going to the Mop is especially nice and is so immersive in its Michaelmas fair and the servants to be hired with their fashion out of Dickens and those saucy ribbons and the "marry with a house of your own or you'll spend your whole life looking for one" and that determined, sensible femininity, and the drugging, and the furnishing, and the cake, and, again, those saucy ribbons.

Our Strike really demonstrates how much more progressive Mrs. Henry Wood became as she aged. It's echoed throughout this book but her old, "The poor are dirty and they need to work harder!" mantra is by now completely replaced by a new, "The poor have struggles because they are poor!" which goes down easier, and reflects a lot of Dickens, who was kicking her ass in book sales all over the mid- to late 1800s. In A Life's Secret, Mrs. Henry Wood's thesis was: "Strikes are bad. The poor are indolent and when they strike, it's their fault if their children starve to death. In Our Strike, she strikes a much more moderate, "Strikes are bad. It is better for labour and management to come to an understanding on wages and working conditions without the use of strikes, because if the poor strike, it's their fault and the labour organizers' fault if their wives starve to death." Hey, it's progress. It's still a pretty fucked up story: If you strike you will go mad with hunger and beat the shit out of your starving child because he tries to steal a bun, while your wife pawns all your possessions within a fortnight. Maybe we can agree that if two weeks with no wages leaves working families in utter destitution then maybe the wages aren't high enough. In another cycle of stories, the nouveau riche are exposed for being gaudy. And Johnny Ludlow is up to his old face-reading tricks, and people keep calling him a muff. Excellent collection of stories. Has multiple funny blustering Squire moments and other funny moments. Highly recommend, after you've read Trevelyn Hold and the Channings and a few others.