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The Adventurous Lady
An aristocratic young woman on her way to a country house where she's expected to attract a husband she doesn't want happens to meet a middle-class woman going to the same village to be a governess, and suggests they swap places.
Originally published 1920.
Originally published 1920.
ebook
First published September 27, 2015
About the author
J.C. Snaith
37 books1 followerJohn Collis Snaith.
UK author, mostly in his early career of sentimental romances, of which Mrs Fitz (1910), set in a Ruritania, is of moderate interest; The Coming (1917), set in England, is a fantasy about the Second Coming of Christ. His first sf novel, An Affair of State (1913), is set in a Near Future England raddled by social strife; The Council of Seven (1921) describes a totalitarian Dystopia governed by the eponymous cabal with life-and-death powers over those who threaten its vision of world peace; and Thus Far (1925) depicts the creation of an enormously powerful, amoral, telepathic Superman by the application of various Rays, chemicals and, as E F Bleiler states, "glandular extracts from a missing link" (see Apes as Human; Evolution; Genetic Engineering); Bleiler further suggests that Snaith may have published an earlier work describing the discovery of this link, but no such work has yet been unearthed.
UK author, mostly in his early career of sentimental romances, of which Mrs Fitz (1910), set in a Ruritania, is of moderate interest; The Coming (1917), set in England, is a fantasy about the Second Coming of Christ. His first sf novel, An Affair of State (1913), is set in a Near Future England raddled by social strife; The Council of Seven (1921) describes a totalitarian Dystopia governed by the eponymous cabal with life-and-death powers over those who threaten its vision of world peace; and Thus Far (1925) depicts the creation of an enormously powerful, amoral, telepathic Superman by the application of various Rays, chemicals and, as E F Bleiler states, "glandular extracts from a missing link" (see Apes as Human; Evolution; Genetic Engineering); Bleiler further suggests that Snaith may have published an earlier work describing the discovery of this link, but no such work has yet been unearthed.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 7, 2026
Just after the Armistice is signed for the end of World War I, two young women, about the same age (twenty), about the same size (smallish), happen to take the same train to the same country village. One is the imperious Lady Elfreda Catkin, the daughter of an Irish marquis, being sent to a country manor to act in a play, but also, her mother hopes, to attract a (specific) wealthy husband. She is not on board with this plan. The other is the timid Miss Cass, the orphaned daughter of a suburban solicitor, going to a different house to take up a position as a governess, since she has no financial resources.
The badly written play Lady Elfreda is cast in, as it happens, follows the general premise of The Prince and the Pauper (or the much later movie Trading Places): it's about an aristocrat and a governess who, meeting on the train, decide to swap places. This gives Elfreda an obvious idea, and between force of personality and getting Miss Cass a little drunk on the fine bottle of wine Elfreda's father has sent her, she manages to sell her travel companion on making a similar switch. She overcomes her maid's inevitable objections in a broadly similar manner, and shenanigans ensue.
I was hoping that hilarity would ensue, but (for me, at least) it didn't. P.G. Wodehouse could, and several times did, take this kind of premise and turn it into a sparkling farce, but this book is neither sparkling nor a farce. It's very aware that Miss Cass has got the raw end of the deal, since when the scheme is inevitably exposed she will have no job, no home, no money and no "character" (reputation). Lady Elfreda airily assures her that she will take care of all that, but she isn't exactly the most trustworthy character, and poor Miss Cass, already timid and nervous, is practically prostrated with fear, and unable to even speak loudly enough to be heard when she attempts her (or rather, Lady Elfreda's) part in the play.
Not playing it simply for laughs, but making a commentary on the very different levels of opportunity and forgiveness available to the two women of two different classes, is a valid choice to make, and that's not what gets it a three-star rating from me. The rating was because the characters don't change. Miss Cass starts out spineless, and she remains spineless. Lady Elfreda starts out arrogant and careless, and remains arrogant and careless.
I picked this up from Project Gutenberg's feed knowing almost nothing beyond the title, what I call a "pig-in-a-poke book." Sometimes that works out for me, and I discover a forgotten gem. More often, as happened this time, I'm disappointed. What I hoped early on was a comedy is more in what I think of as a literary novel mode, where people don't act to change their circumstances or learn from their experiences or change for the better as a result of them. At least it wasn't a literary downer ending, but I'm almost more annoyed because of the lack of bad consequences than I would have been with something more realistic. On top of that, the writing is only average.
It isn't terrible, but it disappointed my expectations.
The badly written play Lady Elfreda is cast in, as it happens, follows the general premise of The Prince and the Pauper (or the much later movie Trading Places): it's about an aristocrat and a governess who, meeting on the train, decide to swap places. This gives Elfreda an obvious idea, and between force of personality and getting Miss Cass a little drunk on the fine bottle of wine Elfreda's father has sent her, she manages to sell her travel companion on making a similar switch. She overcomes her maid's inevitable objections in a broadly similar manner, and shenanigans ensue.
I was hoping that hilarity would ensue, but (for me, at least) it didn't. P.G. Wodehouse could, and several times did, take this kind of premise and turn it into a sparkling farce, but this book is neither sparkling nor a farce. It's very aware that Miss Cass has got the raw end of the deal, since when the scheme is inevitably exposed she will have no job, no home, no money and no "character" (reputation). Lady Elfreda airily assures her that she will take care of all that, but she isn't exactly the most trustworthy character, and poor Miss Cass, already timid and nervous, is practically prostrated with fear, and unable to even speak loudly enough to be heard when she attempts her (or rather, Lady Elfreda's) part in the play.
Not playing it simply for laughs, but making a commentary on the very different levels of opportunity and forgiveness available to the two women of two different classes, is a valid choice to make, and that's not what gets it a three-star rating from me. The rating was because the characters don't change. Miss Cass starts out spineless, and she remains spineless. Lady Elfreda starts out arrogant and careless, and remains arrogant and careless.
I picked this up from Project Gutenberg's feed knowing almost nothing beyond the title, what I call a "pig-in-a-poke book." Sometimes that works out for me, and I discover a forgotten gem. More often, as happened this time, I'm disappointed. What I hoped early on was a comedy is more in what I think of as a literary novel mode, where people don't act to change their circumstances or learn from their experiences or change for the better as a result of them. At least it wasn't a literary downer ending, but I'm almost more annoyed because of the lack of bad consequences than I would have been with something more realistic. On top of that, the writing is only average.
It isn't terrible, but it disappointed my expectations.
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March 7, 2024I was very surprised to find that I have now read a book that no one else on Goodreads has. It was a bit different from what I normally read, but I enjoyed it, and it probably deserves 3 1/2 stars for a decent but not amazing story.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews