What do you think?
Rate this book
Henry Dunbar
In this novel by Victorian sensationalist Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Henry Dunbar returns to England after a 30-year exile to India for committing forgery. What follows is an adventure involving murder, deception, the ethical quandaries of guilt and responsibility, and the struggle against the gender and social barriers of the Victorian era.(Summary by Rosie)
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1864
15 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
1,052 books386 followersMary Elizabeth Braddon was a British Victorian era popular novelist. She was an extremely prolific writer, producing some 75 novels with very inventive plots. The most famous one is her first novel, Lady Audley's Secret (1862), which won her recognition and fortune as well. The novel has been in print ever since, and has been dramatised and filmed several times.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Braddon also founded Belgravia Magazine (1866), which presented readers with serialized sensation novels, poems, travel narratives, and biographies, as well as essays on fashion, history, science. She also edited Temple Bar Magazine. Braddon's legacy is tied to the Sensation Fiction of the 1860s.
She is also the mother of novelist W.B. Maxwell.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 8, 2021
Один мужик тридцать пять лет ждал, чтобы отомстить другому мужику – и другие страшные истории о том, как люди закрывали гештальты до изобретения психотерапии.
June 29, 2020
After labouring through Hilary Mantel’s 900-odd page The Mirror and the Light, I felt like something swift and ‘sensational’ as a palate cleanser. Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Henry Dunbar (1865) delivered splendidly on both counts. This is the third novel by Braddon that I’ve read, and the one I have liked the most—more so, in fact, than her most famous novel, Lady Audley’s Secret.
I read the novel in an excellent 2010 edition by Victorian Secrets, with a good introduction and a very entertaining selection of the book’s original reviews. One fascinating detail that I picked up from the introduction is that Braddon published the novel twice: first as a kind of penny dreadful, or ‘penny blood’, published in instalments and then as a three-volume ‘sensation novel’, aimed at a more middle-class readership. One key difference between these two marketplaces for fiction, as Braddon herself sardonically observes through a mouthpiece character in The Doctor’s Wife is that ‘the penny public requires excitement’, which means ‘you’re obliged to have recourse to bodies’. For the refined readership of three-volume novels, by contrast, a more restrained single corpse can suffice.
A curious feature of Henry Dunbar is that it revolves around a secret, which Braddon asked early reviewers not to reveal as a spoiler; yet that secret is 100% guessable to the reader, even though it remains—cleverly and plausibly—opaque to the majority of the characters. Much of the novel’s pleasure and interest derives, precisely, from this knowledge gap and the dramatic ironies that unfold from it. I thought these were handled in a masterly way. The novel contains one of my favourite nineteenth-century motifs, that of a doubling of identity, as found in James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Braddon doesn’t treat the theme in as psychologically dense a way as Hogg or Stevenson—she’s an altogether breezier and more superficial writer—but she does make some telling social points along the way.
Other pleasures of the book are an early appearance of a detective figure (three years before the Sergeant Cuff of Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone); an outrageously filmic chase episode; and some good settings, including a well portrayed Winchester, site of the murder that sets the plot in action. The characters aren’t outstanding, but they are engaging enough, and the morality of the crime narrative is unexpectedly nuanced. I was interested to read that the novel was written at a time when capital punishment was a topic of controversy, and shortly before public hangings were abolished in England—a fact of some relevance to the plot.
I read the novel in an excellent 2010 edition by Victorian Secrets, with a good introduction and a very entertaining selection of the book’s original reviews. One fascinating detail that I picked up from the introduction is that Braddon published the novel twice: first as a kind of penny dreadful, or ‘penny blood’, published in instalments and then as a three-volume ‘sensation novel’, aimed at a more middle-class readership. One key difference between these two marketplaces for fiction, as Braddon herself sardonically observes through a mouthpiece character in The Doctor’s Wife is that ‘the penny public requires excitement’, which means ‘you’re obliged to have recourse to bodies’. For the refined readership of three-volume novels, by contrast, a more restrained single corpse can suffice.
A curious feature of Henry Dunbar is that it revolves around a secret, which Braddon asked early reviewers not to reveal as a spoiler; yet that secret is 100% guessable to the reader, even though it remains—cleverly and plausibly—opaque to the majority of the characters. Much of the novel’s pleasure and interest derives, precisely, from this knowledge gap and the dramatic ironies that unfold from it. I thought these were handled in a masterly way. The novel contains one of my favourite nineteenth-century motifs, that of a doubling of identity, as found in James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Braddon doesn’t treat the theme in as psychologically dense a way as Hogg or Stevenson—she’s an altogether breezier and more superficial writer—but she does make some telling social points along the way.
Other pleasures of the book are an early appearance of a detective figure (three years before the Sergeant Cuff of Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone); an outrageously filmic chase episode; and some good settings, including a well portrayed Winchester, site of the murder that sets the plot in action. The characters aren’t outstanding, but they are engaging enough, and the morality of the crime narrative is unexpectedly nuanced. I was interested to read that the novel was written at a time when capital punishment was a topic of controversy, and shortly before public hangings were abolished in England—a fact of some relevance to the plot.
August 31, 2015
Sometimes a sensation novel is just what you need.
I read Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s two most famous novels – ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ and ‘Aurora Floyd’ many years ago, and I have them on my shelves, in green Virago Modern Classics editions, because I’d love to read them again one day. You see, in those days I didn’t look as far for books as I do now – I just looked in the library and bookshops and found more that enough to read – and nothing else caught my eye.
More recently though I noticed though, that in this world where so many Victoria authors are readily available online and in cheap printed editions, interesting publishers were printing lovely editions of different titles by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
That said to me that there had to be something about the books and their author that made them particularly interesting.
After reading one of them I can say that I think there was.
‘Henry Dunbar’ was the book that I reached for first, because it was the earliest, because I always like a full name in a book title, and because I saw that it would account for another year in my 100 Years of Books.
It’s a wonderfully readable book, and it illuminates Victorian views of class and gender, of crime and punishment, wonderfully well.
I could say more but I don’t want to say too much; and that reminds me to say that the additional material in the Victorian Secrets edition is fascinating, but the introduction gives away key plot points and so you should read the story before you even glance at anything else.
9188130As a young man Henry Dunbar, heir to the London banking house, Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, was spoiled and arrogant. When he fell into debt he convinced his friend Joseph Wilmot, a clerk at the bank with a gift for reproducing handwriting, to help him create forged bonds that he could use to pay off his creditors.
When the bank uncovered the fraud and he was confronted, Henry Dunbar denied responsibility and blamed Joseph Wilmot for everything. His uncle banished him to the firm’s Indian office and summarily dismissed his accomplice.
The story opened thirty years after those events.
Henry Dunbar was coming home. He would be senior partner of Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, and his father and his uncle were both dead, and he would be reunited with his daughter, Laura, who he hadn’t seen since he sent her home many years earlier, after the death of the wife he met and married in India.
Joseph Wilmot, with no character from his employer, had been unable to secure another position without a reference, had fallen into bad company had transported after a conviction. He was back in England, living with his daughter, Margaret, who knew nothing of his past, when he learned from his brother, still an employee of Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, that his nemesis was returning to England.
And so two men set off to welcome Henry Dunbar. One who was sent by the bank and one who was determined to call him to account for the downward spiral that his life had taken.
Only one of those two men would meet Henry Dunbar.
Only one of the three would return to London; much later than he had been expected, and not quite freed from his entanglement in a criminal investigation that had baffled police.
The plotting is very well done, but I’d be giving too much away if I said more.
What makes this book particularly interesting is the two young women – Laura and Margaret. Their stations in life are very different, but each has a suitor and is very close to marriage, and each must come to terms with their father’s past and the fact that there is much too his character of which they were unaware. And of course one has a father who is present, and who is behaving in ways that they can’t quite understand; and the one has a father who has not come home and who she will do all that she can to find.
The joy of this book comes not from the revelation of its secret – which is easy to work out, not least because the author herself drops such heavy hints – but from seeing the reactions to the revelation and watching the drama unfold.
The plot continues to intrigue. There’s a mysterious stranger; there’s a jewellery theft; there’s blackmail; there’s a dramatic chase across country with a police inspector determined to get his man; and there’s a good dash of love and romance.
Pretty much everything a sensation novel could want!
Mary Elizabeth Braddon manages her plot very well, she writes engagingly, and if her characters are not quite so finely drawn, her plots not quite so innovative, and those of her contemporaries …. well that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book, because she did all of the things that she needed to make it work.
If you enjoy sensation novels this one is well worth reading; for the story and for its view of the period.
I read Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s two most famous novels – ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ and ‘Aurora Floyd’ many years ago, and I have them on my shelves, in green Virago Modern Classics editions, because I’d love to read them again one day. You see, in those days I didn’t look as far for books as I do now – I just looked in the library and bookshops and found more that enough to read – and nothing else caught my eye.
More recently though I noticed though, that in this world where so many Victoria authors are readily available online and in cheap printed editions, interesting publishers were printing lovely editions of different titles by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
That said to me that there had to be something about the books and their author that made them particularly interesting.
After reading one of them I can say that I think there was.
‘Henry Dunbar’ was the book that I reached for first, because it was the earliest, because I always like a full name in a book title, and because I saw that it would account for another year in my 100 Years of Books.
It’s a wonderfully readable book, and it illuminates Victorian views of class and gender, of crime and punishment, wonderfully well.
I could say more but I don’t want to say too much; and that reminds me to say that the additional material in the Victorian Secrets edition is fascinating, but the introduction gives away key plot points and so you should read the story before you even glance at anything else.
9188130As a young man Henry Dunbar, heir to the London banking house, Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, was spoiled and arrogant. When he fell into debt he convinced his friend Joseph Wilmot, a clerk at the bank with a gift for reproducing handwriting, to help him create forged bonds that he could use to pay off his creditors.
When the bank uncovered the fraud and he was confronted, Henry Dunbar denied responsibility and blamed Joseph Wilmot for everything. His uncle banished him to the firm’s Indian office and summarily dismissed his accomplice.
The story opened thirty years after those events.
Henry Dunbar was coming home. He would be senior partner of Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, and his father and his uncle were both dead, and he would be reunited with his daughter, Laura, who he hadn’t seen since he sent her home many years earlier, after the death of the wife he met and married in India.
Joseph Wilmot, with no character from his employer, had been unable to secure another position without a reference, had fallen into bad company had transported after a conviction. He was back in England, living with his daughter, Margaret, who knew nothing of his past, when he learned from his brother, still an employee of Dunbar, Dunbar & Balderby, that his nemesis was returning to England.
And so two men set off to welcome Henry Dunbar. One who was sent by the bank and one who was determined to call him to account for the downward spiral that his life had taken.
Only one of those two men would meet Henry Dunbar.
Only one of the three would return to London; much later than he had been expected, and not quite freed from his entanglement in a criminal investigation that had baffled police.
The plotting is very well done, but I’d be giving too much away if I said more.
What makes this book particularly interesting is the two young women – Laura and Margaret. Their stations in life are very different, but each has a suitor and is very close to marriage, and each must come to terms with their father’s past and the fact that there is much too his character of which they were unaware. And of course one has a father who is present, and who is behaving in ways that they can’t quite understand; and the one has a father who has not come home and who she will do all that she can to find.
The joy of this book comes not from the revelation of its secret – which is easy to work out, not least because the author herself drops such heavy hints – but from seeing the reactions to the revelation and watching the drama unfold.
The plot continues to intrigue. There’s a mysterious stranger; there’s a jewellery theft; there’s blackmail; there’s a dramatic chase across country with a police inspector determined to get his man; and there’s a good dash of love and romance.
Pretty much everything a sensation novel could want!
Mary Elizabeth Braddon manages her plot very well, she writes engagingly, and if her characters are not quite so finely drawn, her plots not quite so innovative, and those of her contemporaries …. well that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book, because she did all of the things that she needed to make it work.
If you enjoy sensation novels this one is well worth reading; for the story and for its view of the period.
March 17, 2021
La Braddon si ritiene l'equivalente femminile di Wilkie Collins in termini di sensational novel vittoriana, di cui già ho avuto modo anni fa di apprezzarne la penna con "Il segreto di Lady Audley".
Avvincente e ben scritto, "Henry Dunbar" vibra come un giallo seppur di facile intuizione, ma ha la verve interpretativa del romanzo da critica sociale (il titolo originale lascia ben pochi dubbi in merito - "Henry Dunbar: The Story of an Outcast").
Avvincente e ben scritto, "Henry Dunbar" vibra come un giallo seppur di facile intuizione, ma ha la verve interpretativa del romanzo da critica sociale (il titolo originale lascia ben pochi dubbi in merito - "Henry Dunbar: The Story of an Outcast").
January 30, 2021
Thirty-five years before the action of this novel, Henry Dunbar and his valet perpetrated forgery upon the banking firm of Henry's father in order to pay Henry's gambling debts. The crime is discovered but covered up and Henry is sent to India to serve in the firm's offices there. The valet, Joseph Wilmot, was dismissed and told never to darken the firms doors again. When the novel opens, the elder Dunbar has died and Henry is recalled home to assume the mantle of enormous wealth.
To tell further here wanders into spoiler territory. I see that some say this is not her best. It has been some time since I have read Braddon and am unable to make much comparison, but I can say that I think only the most naive reader would be fooled as to what has happened. The fun is in watching to see if/when/how the characters learn of the deceit.
Much of what I have read of 19th Century fiction would be classed as realism. There is little about this that would fall into that class, other than the consultation of a Bradshaw, train travel, and perhaps food items at various hotels. This is sensation fiction and fits the Wikipedia definition admirably.
To tell further here wanders into spoiler territory. I see that some say this is not her best. It has been some time since I have read Braddon and am unable to make much comparison, but I can say that I think only the most naive reader would be fooled as to what has happened. The fun is in watching to see if/when/how the characters learn of the deceit.
Much of what I have read of 19th Century fiction would be classed as realism. There is little about this that would fall into that class, other than the consultation of a Bradshaw, train travel, and perhaps food items at various hotels. This is sensation fiction and fits the Wikipedia definition admirably.
Typically the sensation novel focused on shocking subject matter including adultery, theft, kidnapping, insanity, bigamy, forgery, seduction and murder. It distinguished itself from other contemporary genres, including the Gothic novel, by setting these themes in ordinary, familiar and often domestic settings, thereby undermining the common Victorian-era assumption that sensational events were something foreign and divorced from comfortable middle-class life.This was just what I wanted at this time. Is it really worth my rating of 4-stars? I guess it depends on what your reading mouth is watering for.
September 22, 2013
Purple and Black
I’m a fan of Braddon and the Sensationalists in general but this isn’t among the best of her books. It is entertaining however. The main flaw is that the solution to the mystery is obvious from the beginning but the journey is still enjoyable. And that’s the main point of “Henry Dunbar”…the journey. Dunbar is a scion of an important English banking firm but commits a grave mistake in his youth. His father and uncle banish him to India for his sins. Of course things aren’t too grave since his isolation includes heading up their Indian branch. Then, on his father’s death, he returns to England. This all happens in the first few chapters!
Then a murder is committed (remember this is Braddon) and the rest of the book centers around who dun it. The ladies figure prominently in the mystery especially the daughter of an old friend of Dunbar’s and his own daughter who’s he hasn’t seen since she was two years old. There are love affairs (still Braddon with the pen in her hand remember?). As always Braddon has a large amount of purple ink in her pen. The whole thing is great fun as long as you suspend belief.
I’m a fan of Braddon and the Sensationalists in general but this isn’t among the best of her books. It is entertaining however. The main flaw is that the solution to the mystery is obvious from the beginning but the journey is still enjoyable. And that’s the main point of “Henry Dunbar”…the journey. Dunbar is a scion of an important English banking firm but commits a grave mistake in his youth. His father and uncle banish him to India for his sins. Of course things aren’t too grave since his isolation includes heading up their Indian branch. Then, on his father’s death, he returns to England. This all happens in the first few chapters!
Then a murder is committed (remember this is Braddon) and the rest of the book centers around who dun it. The ladies figure prominently in the mystery especially the daughter of an old friend of Dunbar’s and his own daughter who’s he hasn’t seen since she was two years old. There are love affairs (still Braddon with the pen in her hand remember?). As always Braddon has a large amount of purple ink in her pen. The whole thing is great fun as long as you suspend belief.
March 23, 2021
I think the solution to mystery was obvious from the beginning of the story. The scene and circumstances were very clearly set for the crime. What made the story compelling was the tension of how and when the truth would be discovered. What I loved about the story was the moral character development, the way Braddon showed the necessity of sacrifice to help secure others' salvation, and how she left us with hope in God's mercy.
December 18, 2016
Ho sempre amato i gialli vittoriani, con le loro storie che si dipanano lentamente e i detective che (contrariamente a quanto succederà ai loro colleghi nei racconti 'polizieschi' di qualche decennio più tardi) il più delle volte risultano beffati dagli eventi.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon dimostra ancora una volta la sua grande abilità di scrittrice; e ancora una volta mi trovo ad ammirare le figure femminili (coraggiose, determinate, indipendenti) disegnate da queste splendide signore romanziere dell'ottocento.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon dimostra ancora una volta la sua grande abilità di scrittrice; e ancora una volta mi trovo ad ammirare le figure femminili (coraggiose, determinate, indipendenti) disegnate da queste splendide signore romanziere dell'ottocento.
March 10, 2020
Una lettura mozzafiato! Ho divorato fino all'ultima pagina questo thriller vittoriano che non dimostra affatto i suoi anni in quanto a suspance.
Di solito nei romanzi di M.E.Braddon, anche nei più avvincenti, ho riscontrato la presenza di "tempi morti". Ebbene, qui non ce ne sono.
È un meccanismo narrativo impeccabile, con uno degli inseguimenti più spettacolari che abbia mai letto.
Unico neo, la mancanza di una vicenda sentimentale davvero appassionante, presente invece in quasi tutti gli altri romanzi di questa autrice.
Di solito nei romanzi di M.E.Braddon, anche nei più avvincenti, ho riscontrato la presenza di "tempi morti". Ebbene, qui non ce ne sono.
È un meccanismo narrativo impeccabile, con uno degli inseguimenti più spettacolari che abbia mai letto.
Unico neo, la mancanza di una vicenda sentimentale davvero appassionante, presente invece in quasi tutti gli altri romanzi di questa autrice.
February 16, 2018
This is an intriguing story of identity theft, love, murder, privileges of wealth, dysfunctional families, and detective work without phones or computers. Braddon’s characters are realistically well-rounded: the good guys often show some less-than admirable trait, and the bad guys sometimes surprise with their kindness or repentance.
First published in 1864. I listened to this novel as a free download from LibriVox.org
First published in 1864. I listened to this novel as a free download from LibriVox.org
March 26, 2021
There's no way around it. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was a talented author who knew how to weave her story, keeping her audience enthralled. Even though it's rather obvious what happened during the murder, the reader can't help but be drawn into the story eager to know how it will all play out. What's the saying? Revenge is a dish best served cold. That's definitely an apt description in the case of Henry Dunbar. Originally published in 1863-64 as The Outcasts, Henry Dunbar is one I highly recommend.
April 18, 2021
Valutazione quasi 4 stelline.
Un sensation novel scritto bene ma di facile intuizione sin dalle prime battute. Si riprende abbastanza verso la fine, quando il ritmo diventa più serrato e incalzante coinvolgendo di più il lettore. Mentre leggevo pensavo cosa sarebbe potuto diventare un simile intreccio, che aveva del potenziale, nelle mani di un Wilkie Collins. E che capolavoro di caratterizzazioni avrebbe creato con il suo particolare dono di dar vita a protagonisti, ma anche antagonisti, vedi il Conte Fosco, o Miss Gwilt, o Miserrimus Dexter, indimenticabili....
Un sensation novel scritto bene ma di facile intuizione sin dalle prime battute. Si riprende abbastanza verso la fine, quando il ritmo diventa più serrato e incalzante coinvolgendo di più il lettore. Mentre leggevo pensavo cosa sarebbe potuto diventare un simile intreccio, che aveva del potenziale, nelle mani di un Wilkie Collins. E che capolavoro di caratterizzazioni avrebbe creato con il suo particolare dono di dar vita a protagonisti, ma anche antagonisti, vedi il Conte Fosco, o Miss Gwilt, o Miserrimus Dexter, indimenticabili....
February 23, 2023
Classic mid-Victorian sensational novel with all the appropriate ingredients, including murder, deception, impersonation and general criminality. But significantly none of the above causes happiness or fulfillment, only despair and dishonour. Protestant values, and filial loyalty, ultimately triumph - the criminal is found out, but allowed to seek redemption before death, allowing the hero and heroine an opportunity for a life together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2026
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert
-August 15, 1950 meeting between Balderby, cashier Clement Austin and Sampson Wilmont about Henry coming back to England 35 years later.
-Hugh Dunbar-The House of Dunbar, Dunbar, and Balderby East India bankers in London, both brothers are dead, Henry is coming back home.
-Percival Dunbar-recently died at 80, younger brother banker, paid 3 thousand pounds for his son’s honor. Spoiled his granddaughter. Henry was mad at his father who would be so cruel to let his uncle send him away without a word. Henry only came back after his father’s death.
-Mr. Balderby-junior partner, middle-aged family man with daughters, ?Henry is to stay for an inquest and wants Balderby to come with a lawyer, Laura hears of her father’s delay and she wants Arthur to go with him. He is surprised that Sampson and his brother are dead. After finding out about the murder and the reasons why Clement left, he hired him back as a partnership to the bank.
-Clement Austin-33 years old, bachelor works as a cashier at the bank. Looks for a music teacher for his niece, Lizzie. Clement and his mother hire Margaret to be a music teacher to his niece and he has fallen in love with her. When Margaret hears of the murder she leaves them perplexed to her rash departure. Clement loves Margaret but has not declared his love yet. He thinks Dunbar guilty of murder. Clement looks to see if Margaret loves him and sees she is worried that he would regret his love because of her father’s crimes but he is determined and she tells of her love. Margaret won’t marry until her father’s murder is avenged, so Clement sees that he needs to put full force in this besides he cannot work at the bank as his father did because of Dunbar being a murderer and he cannot tell Balderly why he is quitting which remains a puzzle. His mother doesn’t understand but knows her son is good. Clement is going to see a school friend to ask questions, Arthur. Clement has his mother take Margaret to the neighborhood of Dunbar and having found out that Margaret can see him and talk to him about her father’s murder. He waited outside for her but she did not show up but he was told she left. He finally finds her but she is very strange and doesn’t want to talk to him. She says she is not fit for an honest man. She looks herself and Clement nor his mother can induce her to talk and the doctor tells she is strong willed and needs to talk but won’t. Clememt tells her his love but she refuses to talk today. She leaves and is very cold refusing his love. After a letter from Margaret he decided to find the murderer even though she tells him to forget it. Clement took up with Carter, he finally told the reporter everything and the detective seemed to be happy about what he surmised and the need to drag the pond for clothes. They found the clothes of Henry Dunbar and it is clear that Wilmont had murdered his master. He sees that Margaret is following him and he sees it all and has pity. He refuses to go with Carter to see Wilmont and confront him. Clement sees that Margaret will never leave her father and his hopes of happiness gone though he tried to get a message to her. He is glad Wilmont is not caught because of Margaret. He goes back to the bank after he was encouraged and is made a partner. Margaret sends back the diamonds and Clement a year later finds Margaret and tells her his heart. Wilmont died and repented with his daughter working for this. They marry and have a family with his mother staying with them.
-Marian Lester- Clement’s sister who has lived in Sydney for 12 years with her husband and daughter, Elizabeth.
-Elizabeth Lester-11 years old old niece of Clement, who recently came to live with Clement and his mother, she came from Sydney.
-Sampson Wilmont-65 years old, he still works at the bank though he loves his brother and sorry about his troubles but he thought his brother was dead, until he saw him at the station, when he starts to worry about Joseph meeting Henry, he has a fatal stroke and is dying. Joseph leaves him to catch a train with his brother’s things.
-Henry Dunbar-sole inheritor, has been away in India for 35 years, only person saw him then was Sampson Wilmont. After Henry had Joseph forged a check for his master. Henry had been friendly and decided that Joseph work for him instead of the bank, though his family did not want Joseph to work. Henry was confronted by his uncle who took charge when he found out this forgery, nothing was to be brought to justice, but Henry to sail to Calcutta to work from the ground up, in Indian branch. When Henry told his uncle about his accomplice, he did not speak up that he was the one that was the instigator of the crime. Joseph confronted his master who ignored him and Joseph told him he would get back at him. He left in 1815 and married in 1831, had a daughter who was brought to England in her infancy, taking care by Mr. Percival. Henry meets Joseph at the train station but does not know him until Joseph tells him. He offers Joseph a pound a week for life but does not see that Joseph will not accept this. I think Henry was murdered by Joseph.
-Joseph Wilmont-younger brother, was 19 when he forged a check for Henry Dunbar. He was told that the bank would not give him a reference, he never earned a honest situation again. Aka- James Wentworth,
-Margaret Wentworth-lives in Wandsworth, gave lessons on the piano-forte and taught singing. Mother died when 1 year old, 18 years old. She finds out about the murder and leaves Clement and his mother in a hurry. Tells Arden the magistrate but he discourages her. She refuses money from Dunbar who refuses to see her and escapes her. She is determined to see him and she sees that Arthur’s continence shows uncertainty about Dunbar. Margaret’s mother was a daughter of a Navy man called Talbot. Her mother had a secret wedding. Margaret was unsuccessful at bringing the murder to justice and was very upset that Dunbar refused to see her, but when she sees it is unsuccessful she goes home disheartened. Margaret has the Austins as friends and has moved near them but has not forgotten Dunbar, she is determined to see him. Clement told her about Dunbar coming to the bank, and she is upset that he refused to see her. Clement tells her he thinks Dunbar is guilty of killing her father and also looks to see if she loves him which she confesses. Margaret sees Dunbar and I am sure sees her father was indeed the murderer and her life is changed henceforth. Margaret after a night is in the early morning leaving to go without telling Clement but would write him, he finds her and she unmovable and cold. All his talk could not get her to change and he broke all allusion that she loved him. Margaret has aged with her burden but hears of Clement hoing to the murder area and sees that she must warn her father. Margaret warns her father who has escaped on his horse and she follows him. She helps him in repenting before hus death. She marries Clement finally she starts to heal.
-James Wentworth-scapegrace, neglected his only child. not reliable father, Margaret lived on her slender earnings, 53 years old. seems to be Joseph, who was transported for life to an island where he escaped and went back to England and told his daughter years later. Margaret finally told the name Henry Dunbar who ruined her father. This is Joseph who when going to London, he sees his brother Sampson, his brother did not recognize him but finally did. When his brother finds out that Joseph is alive and wants to meet Henry Dunbar, Sampson remembers the threat long ago. When Sampson suffers a stroke on the train, he is brought to a hotel for medical attention and that he is dying. Joseph wants to meet Dunbar alone so he decides that he will take his brother’s suitcase and leave not be there for an inquest, though he tells the nurse he is coming back. When Joseph arrived to wait the ship, he bought new clothes and went to a barber, looking like a new man. He did not once think of his dying brother or his daughter waiting at home. Joseph confronts an unknowing Henry and his old master offers him pittance for what happened to him long ago. Joseph seeing that his master is haughty and not repenting for what he did, it seems that Joseph gained favor again and might have done away and taken Henry’s place. It seems to me that when Henry and Joseph went for a walk but only Henry came back or was that Joseph that came back, he seemed to not be Henry. Is Joseph or Henry murdered? Henry I bet. He is pale and agitated after hearing Margaret will not take money from him but wants to comfront him. Dunbar leaves the hotel that night so to miss Margaret, though Arthur warned against this. He avoids Laura and has cold behavior towards her. Dunbar looks to get Laura off his hands and sees Arthur is in love with her and encourages him to marry her, so when Laura chose Philip, it did not martter who she married and when the wedding comes, the Major sees him and sees the cash cow of the banker. Dunbar promises to stay but he soon leaves after giving in to the blackmail. Dunbar took the despatch box with him that he took from the dead man with a manuscript. I have a feeling the Dunbar coming back from India was not the real one but took the place through something either murder or plan death, looking given a chance to gain. I wonder? Dunbar goes to London to the bank not to work there but to see what his fortune is and when he sees Clement Austin talking to a girl who he knows is Margaret, he refuses to see her and gives the slip. He says he is making a diamond gift necklace for his daughter but instead he sews the jewels in a kind of hidden belt. He says he needs to go to Paris for the necklace. The train wretched and with broken leg he is restricted. He had stayed at the cottage were as the major traded with him and his daughter pretended to be the maid. Margaret and her father went away and were not found. She sends a package to Clement, it was the diamonds that her father had bought and she wanted Clement to give them to Laura. Clement was upset he did not see her because she left it to the maid. Clement tracked her down a year later from the paper covering the package. She was found teaching music and the story from others was that her father died recently and they both went to church. Margaret finally breaks down and marries Clement.
-Laura Dunbar- (Lady Jocelyn) Henry’s daughter is 19. when she was two her father sent her to England worried about her heath in the India weather. He loved her. She is a spoiled but good tempered girl. Arthur propsed his love and she refused him saying he is like a brother. She is afraid when she first see that her father’s first words are cruel. Dunbar seems afraid. Laura tries to win her father but he states he is too ill to go out but goes on early morning and late horse rides. He starts to drink more and stays unside his room. Laura tells Arthur that her father she thinks will ever love her. Laura loves Philip and is happy her father will let her marry. The race was won by Philip and he promised to not race again. Laura worries about the rain on her wedding day. They are married. They search for the painting of young Dunbar painted long ago but the face she thinks is her father is not. They expand their family, and she had her father’s body buried with her grandfather.
-Lady Louisa Dunbar- youngest daughter of the earl of Grantwick whose first husband was a captain in the cavalry, Macmahon, leaving a widow and infant daughter of six weeks. She sent her daughter to relatives. She died suddenly in Calcutta, leaving Henry upset and lost hus heart not wanting another woman. Louisa never loved the millionaire as she loved her first husband.
-Dorothea (Dora) Macmahon- sent to relatives in England, Henry was jealous of her. Dora lives with Laura of late years.
-Elizabeth Madden- nurse to Laura and Lady Louisa’s own maid before her marriage.
-Arthur Lovell- son of the principal solicitor attended Laura to London as an escort. He loved Laura but feared it hopeless because of the wealth. Was offered a position in India which he longs to take to win his reward of Laura if she loves him. Arthur confesses his love but she says she loves him like a brother and he says he will serve her. Thinks something is off with ?Dunbar at the inquest and the way he answered questions, it seemed rehearsed and he thinks that ?Dunbar looks wicked which upset him because his love for Laura. Arthur is unsure of Dunbar and more so after Margaret wants to see Dunbar himself but he refused finally giving in to see her tomorrow. Arthur tried to get Dunbar to see the girl but even when they return home, Margaret tries to see her but is given money which she tears up the check and remonstrances again. I bet he marries Dora but it is not mentioned and Arthur has left the story really after Laura married.
-Mr. Cricklewood- the surgeon who examined the body,
-Sir Arden Westhorpe- a country magistrate st Winchester, where the murder took place. After the inquest which was made clear that the banker was the last known person to see Joseph, so he was arrested though ?Dunbar was arrested and not happy. Margaret hears about the murder and hears the name Dunbar, looks through her father’s things and finds a letter from Sampson to his brother about the past crime but Arden doesn’t think that is enough and Dunbar is released.
-Sir Philip Jocelyn- young sportsman, rich and in love with Laura, they both are sincere though he doesn’t like her father, he loves and sees she loves him. Dunbar wants a quick quiet wedding. The steeple chase is won the day before his wedding.
-Major- who is a gambler sees Dunbar at the race. comes to the wedding and is interested that Dunbar seems different. Major sees Dunbar at the wedding and is surprised but doesn’t say why and Dumbar is friendly but uncertain if he knows this man. Major goes by the names of Mr. Vavasor or Major Vernon. He will meet Dumbar later and as he walks away he sees a milch cow in Dunbar. The Major sees Dunbar again and reflects about his past before his debauched life and his family life long ago. He starts to blackmail Dunbar about the murder and leaves with checks and he thinks that Dunbar will not give him the slip but he does when he returns and no forwarding address. He has helped Wilmont to make his escape and threatened his maid if she talked to the detective looking for Dunbar. Traded places but ended up drowning in the sea after Carter sees he is a wanted man.
-Lizzie and Ellen Melville- invited to the wedding and friends of Laura’s,
-John Lovell- Arthur’s father
-Lord Herriston- offer made for Arthur in India, which he was considering when he thought he could win Laura by making himself so he can win her. Arthur turns down the offer after Laura’s wedding when he starts to notice Dora. Arthur sees Dunbar leaving on the train and being with Lord Herriston who knew Dunbar in his youth, but Dunbar gives the slip in the train leaving not seeing Dunbar.
-Mrs. Manders- housekeeper to the Major who moved to a cottage to be near Dunbar.
-Issac Hartgold-diamond merchanr that sold diamonds to Dunbar for a necklace for Laura.
-Mr. Daphney- the Rugby surgeon who is taking care of the train wretched passengers including Dunbar with a broken leg. Tells Dunbar that it will be months before he recovers and takes Dunbar back to Maudesley Abbey.
-Jeffreys- Dunbar’s servant
-Mr. Vincent- the doctor called to help with Margaret after she came back from seeing Dunbar in a state of despair and illness,
-Mr. Kerstall- the artist thst painted young Dunbar long ago but did not finish it. Laura and Philip honeymooning in Paris look into seeing the old painter but when the painting was found it was something that did not look like her father but it was and she did not know it.
-Mr. Carter- a detective at Scotland Yard that us looking into the Wilmont murder. Clement looks to help him. He figured out that Wilmont had killed places with Dunbar after killing him. The proof in the clothes found in the pond with Dunbar’s name. He is upset that Wilmont got away but he found out about the man that visited him, Vernon. He hears about the diamonds and hears about the belt. He finds that Vernon is covering for Wilmont but he finds out from the maid that he took a fly to the train station. He had talked to Laura and found out about the treatment of the father to the daughter. He found out that the diamonds were taken to a pawn shop and found a boat to Copenhagen. The boat sailed and he had chased it with another boat but the man who was captured was the major who gas the diamonds and given the slip for the maid and Wilmont were pretending were the actual father and daughter. He sees Vernon knowing that he was an escaped convict but he ended drowning in the sea with the diamonds.
-Mr. Tibbles/Sawney Tom - helping Carter, when Carter leaves the Major he sees that Sawney had followed up with a man that looked like Dumbar going to Derby on the railway. He lost Wilmont.
-Captain Spelsand- the captain paid to take Wilmont to Copenhagen.
-August 15, 1950 meeting between Balderby, cashier Clement Austin and Sampson Wilmont about Henry coming back to England 35 years later.
-Hugh Dunbar-The House of Dunbar, Dunbar, and Balderby East India bankers in London, both brothers are dead, Henry is coming back home.
-Percival Dunbar-recently died at 80, younger brother banker, paid 3 thousand pounds for his son’s honor. Spoiled his granddaughter. Henry was mad at his father who would be so cruel to let his uncle send him away without a word. Henry only came back after his father’s death.
-Mr. Balderby-junior partner, middle-aged family man with daughters, ?Henry is to stay for an inquest and wants Balderby to come with a lawyer, Laura hears of her father’s delay and she wants Arthur to go with him. He is surprised that Sampson and his brother are dead. After finding out about the murder and the reasons why Clement left, he hired him back as a partnership to the bank.
-Clement Austin-33 years old, bachelor works as a cashier at the bank. Looks for a music teacher for his niece, Lizzie. Clement and his mother hire Margaret to be a music teacher to his niece and he has fallen in love with her. When Margaret hears of the murder she leaves them perplexed to her rash departure. Clement loves Margaret but has not declared his love yet. He thinks Dunbar guilty of murder. Clement looks to see if Margaret loves him and sees she is worried that he would regret his love because of her father’s crimes but he is determined and she tells of her love. Margaret won’t marry until her father’s murder is avenged, so Clement sees that he needs to put full force in this besides he cannot work at the bank as his father did because of Dunbar being a murderer and he cannot tell Balderly why he is quitting which remains a puzzle. His mother doesn’t understand but knows her son is good. Clement is going to see a school friend to ask questions, Arthur. Clement has his mother take Margaret to the neighborhood of Dunbar and having found out that Margaret can see him and talk to him about her father’s murder. He waited outside for her but she did not show up but he was told she left. He finally finds her but she is very strange and doesn’t want to talk to him. She says she is not fit for an honest man. She looks herself and Clement nor his mother can induce her to talk and the doctor tells she is strong willed and needs to talk but won’t. Clememt tells her his love but she refuses to talk today. She leaves and is very cold refusing his love. After a letter from Margaret he decided to find the murderer even though she tells him to forget it. Clement took up with Carter, he finally told the reporter everything and the detective seemed to be happy about what he surmised and the need to drag the pond for clothes. They found the clothes of Henry Dunbar and it is clear that Wilmont had murdered his master. He sees that Margaret is following him and he sees it all and has pity. He refuses to go with Carter to see Wilmont and confront him. Clement sees that Margaret will never leave her father and his hopes of happiness gone though he tried to get a message to her. He is glad Wilmont is not caught because of Margaret. He goes back to the bank after he was encouraged and is made a partner. Margaret sends back the diamonds and Clement a year later finds Margaret and tells her his heart. Wilmont died and repented with his daughter working for this. They marry and have a family with his mother staying with them.
-Marian Lester- Clement’s sister who has lived in Sydney for 12 years with her husband and daughter, Elizabeth.
-Elizabeth Lester-11 years old old niece of Clement, who recently came to live with Clement and his mother, she came from Sydney.
-Sampson Wilmont-65 years old, he still works at the bank though he loves his brother and sorry about his troubles but he thought his brother was dead, until he saw him at the station, when he starts to worry about Joseph meeting Henry, he has a fatal stroke and is dying. Joseph leaves him to catch a train with his brother’s things.
-Henry Dunbar-sole inheritor, has been away in India for 35 years, only person saw him then was Sampson Wilmont. After Henry had Joseph forged a check for his master. Henry had been friendly and decided that Joseph work for him instead of the bank, though his family did not want Joseph to work. Henry was confronted by his uncle who took charge when he found out this forgery, nothing was to be brought to justice, but Henry to sail to Calcutta to work from the ground up, in Indian branch. When Henry told his uncle about his accomplice, he did not speak up that he was the one that was the instigator of the crime. Joseph confronted his master who ignored him and Joseph told him he would get back at him. He left in 1815 and married in 1831, had a daughter who was brought to England in her infancy, taking care by Mr. Percival. Henry meets Joseph at the train station but does not know him until Joseph tells him. He offers Joseph a pound a week for life but does not see that Joseph will not accept this. I think Henry was murdered by Joseph.
-Joseph Wilmont-younger brother, was 19 when he forged a check for Henry Dunbar. He was told that the bank would not give him a reference, he never earned a honest situation again. Aka- James Wentworth,
-Margaret Wentworth-lives in Wandsworth, gave lessons on the piano-forte and taught singing. Mother died when 1 year old, 18 years old. She finds out about the murder and leaves Clement and his mother in a hurry. Tells Arden the magistrate but he discourages her. She refuses money from Dunbar who refuses to see her and escapes her. She is determined to see him and she sees that Arthur’s continence shows uncertainty about Dunbar. Margaret’s mother was a daughter of a Navy man called Talbot. Her mother had a secret wedding. Margaret was unsuccessful at bringing the murder to justice and was very upset that Dunbar refused to see her, but when she sees it is unsuccessful she goes home disheartened. Margaret has the Austins as friends and has moved near them but has not forgotten Dunbar, she is determined to see him. Clement told her about Dunbar coming to the bank, and she is upset that he refused to see her. Clement tells her he thinks Dunbar is guilty of killing her father and also looks to see if she loves him which she confesses. Margaret sees Dunbar and I am sure sees her father was indeed the murderer and her life is changed henceforth. Margaret after a night is in the early morning leaving to go without telling Clement but would write him, he finds her and she unmovable and cold. All his talk could not get her to change and he broke all allusion that she loved him. Margaret has aged with her burden but hears of Clement hoing to the murder area and sees that she must warn her father. Margaret warns her father who has escaped on his horse and she follows him. She helps him in repenting before hus death. She marries Clement finally she starts to heal.
-James Wentworth-scapegrace, neglected his only child. not reliable father, Margaret lived on her slender earnings, 53 years old. seems to be Joseph, who was transported for life to an island where he escaped and went back to England and told his daughter years later. Margaret finally told the name Henry Dunbar who ruined her father. This is Joseph who when going to London, he sees his brother Sampson, his brother did not recognize him but finally did. When his brother finds out that Joseph is alive and wants to meet Henry Dunbar, Sampson remembers the threat long ago. When Sampson suffers a stroke on the train, he is brought to a hotel for medical attention and that he is dying. Joseph wants to meet Dunbar alone so he decides that he will take his brother’s suitcase and leave not be there for an inquest, though he tells the nurse he is coming back. When Joseph arrived to wait the ship, he bought new clothes and went to a barber, looking like a new man. He did not once think of his dying brother or his daughter waiting at home. Joseph confronts an unknowing Henry and his old master offers him pittance for what happened to him long ago. Joseph seeing that his master is haughty and not repenting for what he did, it seems that Joseph gained favor again and might have done away and taken Henry’s place. It seems to me that when Henry and Joseph went for a walk but only Henry came back or was that Joseph that came back, he seemed to not be Henry. Is Joseph or Henry murdered? Henry I bet. He is pale and agitated after hearing Margaret will not take money from him but wants to comfront him. Dunbar leaves the hotel that night so to miss Margaret, though Arthur warned against this. He avoids Laura and has cold behavior towards her. Dunbar looks to get Laura off his hands and sees Arthur is in love with her and encourages him to marry her, so when Laura chose Philip, it did not martter who she married and when the wedding comes, the Major sees him and sees the cash cow of the banker. Dunbar promises to stay but he soon leaves after giving in to the blackmail. Dunbar took the despatch box with him that he took from the dead man with a manuscript. I have a feeling the Dunbar coming back from India was not the real one but took the place through something either murder or plan death, looking given a chance to gain. I wonder? Dunbar goes to London to the bank not to work there but to see what his fortune is and when he sees Clement Austin talking to a girl who he knows is Margaret, he refuses to see her and gives the slip. He says he is making a diamond gift necklace for his daughter but instead he sews the jewels in a kind of hidden belt. He says he needs to go to Paris for the necklace. The train wretched and with broken leg he is restricted. He had stayed at the cottage were as the major traded with him and his daughter pretended to be the maid. Margaret and her father went away and were not found. She sends a package to Clement, it was the diamonds that her father had bought and she wanted Clement to give them to Laura. Clement was upset he did not see her because she left it to the maid. Clement tracked her down a year later from the paper covering the package. She was found teaching music and the story from others was that her father died recently and they both went to church. Margaret finally breaks down and marries Clement.
-Laura Dunbar- (Lady Jocelyn) Henry’s daughter is 19. when she was two her father sent her to England worried about her heath in the India weather. He loved her. She is a spoiled but good tempered girl. Arthur propsed his love and she refused him saying he is like a brother. She is afraid when she first see that her father’s first words are cruel. Dunbar seems afraid. Laura tries to win her father but he states he is too ill to go out but goes on early morning and late horse rides. He starts to drink more and stays unside his room. Laura tells Arthur that her father she thinks will ever love her. Laura loves Philip and is happy her father will let her marry. The race was won by Philip and he promised to not race again. Laura worries about the rain on her wedding day. They are married. They search for the painting of young Dunbar painted long ago but the face she thinks is her father is not. They expand their family, and she had her father’s body buried with her grandfather.
-Lady Louisa Dunbar- youngest daughter of the earl of Grantwick whose first husband was a captain in the cavalry, Macmahon, leaving a widow and infant daughter of six weeks. She sent her daughter to relatives. She died suddenly in Calcutta, leaving Henry upset and lost hus heart not wanting another woman. Louisa never loved the millionaire as she loved her first husband.
-Dorothea (Dora) Macmahon- sent to relatives in England, Henry was jealous of her. Dora lives with Laura of late years.
-Elizabeth Madden- nurse to Laura and Lady Louisa’s own maid before her marriage.
-Arthur Lovell- son of the principal solicitor attended Laura to London as an escort. He loved Laura but feared it hopeless because of the wealth. Was offered a position in India which he longs to take to win his reward of Laura if she loves him. Arthur confesses his love but she says she loves him like a brother and he says he will serve her. Thinks something is off with ?Dunbar at the inquest and the way he answered questions, it seemed rehearsed and he thinks that ?Dunbar looks wicked which upset him because his love for Laura. Arthur is unsure of Dunbar and more so after Margaret wants to see Dunbar himself but he refused finally giving in to see her tomorrow. Arthur tried to get Dunbar to see the girl but even when they return home, Margaret tries to see her but is given money which she tears up the check and remonstrances again. I bet he marries Dora but it is not mentioned and Arthur has left the story really after Laura married.
-Mr. Cricklewood- the surgeon who examined the body,
-Sir Arden Westhorpe- a country magistrate st Winchester, where the murder took place. After the inquest which was made clear that the banker was the last known person to see Joseph, so he was arrested though ?Dunbar was arrested and not happy. Margaret hears about the murder and hears the name Dunbar, looks through her father’s things and finds a letter from Sampson to his brother about the past crime but Arden doesn’t think that is enough and Dunbar is released.
-Sir Philip Jocelyn- young sportsman, rich and in love with Laura, they both are sincere though he doesn’t like her father, he loves and sees she loves him. Dunbar wants a quick quiet wedding. The steeple chase is won the day before his wedding.
-Major- who is a gambler sees Dunbar at the race. comes to the wedding and is interested that Dunbar seems different. Major sees Dunbar at the wedding and is surprised but doesn’t say why and Dumbar is friendly but uncertain if he knows this man. Major goes by the names of Mr. Vavasor or Major Vernon. He will meet Dumbar later and as he walks away he sees a milch cow in Dunbar. The Major sees Dunbar again and reflects about his past before his debauched life and his family life long ago. He starts to blackmail Dunbar about the murder and leaves with checks and he thinks that Dunbar will not give him the slip but he does when he returns and no forwarding address. He has helped Wilmont to make his escape and threatened his maid if she talked to the detective looking for Dunbar. Traded places but ended up drowning in the sea after Carter sees he is a wanted man.
-Lizzie and Ellen Melville- invited to the wedding and friends of Laura’s,
-John Lovell- Arthur’s father
-Lord Herriston- offer made for Arthur in India, which he was considering when he thought he could win Laura by making himself so he can win her. Arthur turns down the offer after Laura’s wedding when he starts to notice Dora. Arthur sees Dunbar leaving on the train and being with Lord Herriston who knew Dunbar in his youth, but Dunbar gives the slip in the train leaving not seeing Dunbar.
-Mrs. Manders- housekeeper to the Major who moved to a cottage to be near Dunbar.
-Issac Hartgold-diamond merchanr that sold diamonds to Dunbar for a necklace for Laura.
-Mr. Daphney- the Rugby surgeon who is taking care of the train wretched passengers including Dunbar with a broken leg. Tells Dunbar that it will be months before he recovers and takes Dunbar back to Maudesley Abbey.
-Jeffreys- Dunbar’s servant
-Mr. Vincent- the doctor called to help with Margaret after she came back from seeing Dunbar in a state of despair and illness,
-Mr. Kerstall- the artist thst painted young Dunbar long ago but did not finish it. Laura and Philip honeymooning in Paris look into seeing the old painter but when the painting was found it was something that did not look like her father but it was and she did not know it.
-Mr. Carter- a detective at Scotland Yard that us looking into the Wilmont murder. Clement looks to help him. He figured out that Wilmont had killed places with Dunbar after killing him. The proof in the clothes found in the pond with Dunbar’s name. He is upset that Wilmont got away but he found out about the man that visited him, Vernon. He hears about the diamonds and hears about the belt. He finds that Vernon is covering for Wilmont but he finds out from the maid that he took a fly to the train station. He had talked to Laura and found out about the treatment of the father to the daughter. He found out that the diamonds were taken to a pawn shop and found a boat to Copenhagen. The boat sailed and he had chased it with another boat but the man who was captured was the major who gas the diamonds and given the slip for the maid and Wilmont were pretending were the actual father and daughter. He sees Vernon knowing that he was an escaped convict but he ended drowning in the sea with the diamonds.
-Mr. Tibbles/Sawney Tom - helping Carter, when Carter leaves the Major he sees that Sawney had followed up with a man that looked like Dumbar going to Derby on the railway. He lost Wilmont.
-Captain Spelsand- the captain paid to take Wilmont to Copenhagen.
January 26, 2015
I enjoyed this, but along with other reviewers here, I didn't feel it was Braddon's best and/or my favorite of hers. It's true that the mystery isn't much of a mystery at all (you KNOW even before anything happens what will happen), but seeing the plot build and develop kept me on the edge of my seat for the resolution.
Bottom line, yes, it wasn't my favorite, but I still loved reading it and had trouble putting it down for real life stuff. :)
Bottom line, yes, it wasn't my favorite, but I still loved reading it and had trouble putting it down for real life stuff. :)
October 28, 2017
This mystery was first published in 1864 and in 2015 I still found it to be an impressive read. This is one of those "sensation" novels so popular during Victorian times and is one of 75 novels written by prolific author Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Braddon is best known for Lady Audley's Secret, but I find HENRY DUNBAR to be the much better book.
There's fraud, betrayal, bitterness and revenge, murder, mistaken or assumed identities, blackmail, suspense, interesting detection work by various characters, a cat-and-mouse chase, a cast of characters to rival any Dickens' book, and a fascinating look at the Victorian era and people's perception of crime, socioeconomic status and gender. Oh, and there's even romance here, actually two romances.
Although a serious crime story, this has its humorous moments and entertaining characters. It may seem at times that the author has gone off on tangents about someone or something, and I'll grant you that she is a bit wordy (in the Victorian sensation style), but each tangent actually ties in in an important way to the story, while entertaining in its own right.
Braddon also offers up red herrings both to the reader and to the characters of the story. I pretty much figured out whodunit early on but there's still suspense in waiting for the characters of the book to figure things out. All in all, I found this to be a very good read, but I don't recommend it to anyone who finds the melodramatic style of Victorian novels to be tedious.
There's fraud, betrayal, bitterness and revenge, murder, mistaken or assumed identities, blackmail, suspense, interesting detection work by various characters, a cat-and-mouse chase, a cast of characters to rival any Dickens' book, and a fascinating look at the Victorian era and people's perception of crime, socioeconomic status and gender. Oh, and there's even romance here, actually two romances.
Although a serious crime story, this has its humorous moments and entertaining characters. It may seem at times that the author has gone off on tangents about someone or something, and I'll grant you that she is a bit wordy (in the Victorian sensation style), but each tangent actually ties in in an important way to the story, while entertaining in its own right.
Braddon also offers up red herrings both to the reader and to the characters of the story. I pretty much figured out whodunit early on but there's still suspense in waiting for the characters of the book to figure things out. All in all, I found this to be a very good read, but I don't recommend it to anyone who finds the melodramatic style of Victorian novels to be tedious.
August 13, 2016
This was quite entertaining, but I think that the "mystery" part was way too easy to figure out, so instead of suspense of "WHAT HAPPENED?" there was a "WHEN ARE THEY ALL GOING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I ALREADY KNOW?" so it was kind of slow going towards the end. Still, quite clever and a fun, easy read. My third Mary Elizabeth Braddon in a row. I need a break!
Want to read
September 1, 201531 AUG 2015 - find it here
Manybooks.net - http://manybooks.net/titles/braddonme...
Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9189
(This one worked for me with the iBooks for iPad/iPod Touch)
Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/henrydunb...
Manybooks.net - http://manybooks.net/titles/braddonme...
Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9189
(This one worked for me with the iBooks for iPad/iPod Touch)
Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/henrydunb...
Want to read
July 20, 2013Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
February 24, 2024
That twist was so obvious and yet I’m still shocked
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2024
Another classic from M.E. Braddon. She has stopped surprising me now; one can always trust her to write something phenomenal. (The mystery here is easy to solve, but that does not ruin it at all.)
The last two chapters were especially beautifully written: “Margaret’s skilful fingers glide softly over the [piano] keys in wandering snatches of melody that melt and die away like the low breath of the summer wind.” (3880)
This is a slightly less emotional drama than Lady Audley’s Secret or Aurora Floyd - although there is a very touching romantic breakup (and then reunion) towards the ending. Instead, this novel prioritises clues, evidence, and the murder mystery! It’s perfect for anyone studying how Victorian sensationalism influenced crime fiction, because it is basically a detective novel. It also has that very Braddonesque, proto-Line-of-Duty structure where each novel focuses on an eponymous ethically murky character…and then at the end, we get a rundown of each character’s happy ending. It has that proto-Golden-Age quality of prioritising deduction and plot over rigorous character studies. Two couples get married or engaged quite quickly in this text, and while the latter couple is endowed with some emotional investment for the reader, they are still generally there to serve as devices for the unfolding of the (brilliant) mystery.
Yet despite this novel’s relative simplicity when compared to Braddon’s two more famous works, there are still occasional character flourishes. As said, the way she writes Clement Austin’s heartbreak towards the end is quite touching. We also get some funny one-liners from Clement’s hired detective, Mr Carter:
“Master didn’t say nothing, sir,” she [a nursemaid] said.
“Master didn’t say nothing! Your morals and your grammar are about a match, Miss Betsy.”
Surprisingly, the novel also has a strong social justice bent to it. Braddon is concerned in this novel with how society approaches the rich versus the poor, and specifically how “Mr Dunbar” was seen as exempt from having committed the crime because it’s not what a gentleman does. Like Victor Hugo’s Les Mis, it examines how the criminal justice system creates very bitter people who struggle to reintegrate (see Joseph Wilmot), but goes further in suggesting that this wouldn’t apply to wealthier victims of the system (3753).
Plot: when Henry Dunbar returns from India to accept his inheritance (a family business banking firm), he bumps into Joseph Wilmot. Dunbar went to India because he was caught out in a cheque forgery, a scheme he roped Joseph into before throwing him under the bus and letting him suffer more for it. Joseph has led a life of destitution since. When they reunite…one of them dies! Havoc ensues.
The last two chapters were especially beautifully written: “Margaret’s skilful fingers glide softly over the [piano] keys in wandering snatches of melody that melt and die away like the low breath of the summer wind.” (3880)
This is a slightly less emotional drama than Lady Audley’s Secret or Aurora Floyd - although there is a very touching romantic breakup (and then reunion) towards the ending. Instead, this novel prioritises clues, evidence, and the murder mystery! It’s perfect for anyone studying how Victorian sensationalism influenced crime fiction, because it is basically a detective novel. It also has that very Braddonesque, proto-Line-of-Duty structure where each novel focuses on an eponymous ethically murky character…and then at the end, we get a rundown of each character’s happy ending. It has that proto-Golden-Age quality of prioritising deduction and plot over rigorous character studies. Two couples get married or engaged quite quickly in this text, and while the latter couple is endowed with some emotional investment for the reader, they are still generally there to serve as devices for the unfolding of the (brilliant) mystery.
Yet despite this novel’s relative simplicity when compared to Braddon’s two more famous works, there are still occasional character flourishes. As said, the way she writes Clement Austin’s heartbreak towards the end is quite touching. We also get some funny one-liners from Clement’s hired detective, Mr Carter:
“Master didn’t say nothing, sir,” she [a nursemaid] said.
“Master didn’t say nothing! Your morals and your grammar are about a match, Miss Betsy.”
Surprisingly, the novel also has a strong social justice bent to it. Braddon is concerned in this novel with how society approaches the rich versus the poor, and specifically how “Mr Dunbar” was seen as exempt from having committed the crime because it’s not what a gentleman does. Like Victor Hugo’s Les Mis, it examines how the criminal justice system creates very bitter people who struggle to reintegrate (see Joseph Wilmot), but goes further in suggesting that this wouldn’t apply to wealthier victims of the system (3753).
Plot: when Henry Dunbar returns from India to accept his inheritance (a family business banking firm), he bumps into Joseph Wilmot. Dunbar went to India because he was caught out in a cheque forgery, a scheme he roped Joseph into before throwing him under the bus and letting him suffer more for it. Joseph has led a life of destitution since. When they reunite…one of them dies! Havoc ensues.
January 22, 2022
Miss Braddon è senza ombra di dubbio una delle più talentuose scrittrici mai esistite. La sua penna scorre fluida come se scrivere meravigliose descrizioni e arzigogolate avventure le venisse semplice quanto bere un bicchier d'acqua. Un talento senza precedenti e senza pari nella scrittura di romanzi, ineguagliabile. La nota dolente per me è la lungaggine nelle descrizioni di personaggi, luoghi ed episodi, niente di nuovo sul fronte dei romanzi dell'epoca, ma da lettrice "moderna" soffro per la suspance costantemente richiamata dalle sue scene. D'altronde parliamo di uno dei 4 moschettieri del Sensation Novel e dunque i punti che a me sono risultati un po' tediosi nella lettura, sono invero le sue caratteristiche salienti e che meglio si confacciono all'epoca in cui la Braddon operava. La storia gira intorno a uno dei tropi più famosi del sensation novel ovvero lo scambio di identità che tuttavia, in modo geniale, è intuibile già da subito. Il genio sta nel farti capire che c'è stato uno scambio, facendoti allo stesso tempo dubitare dello stesso. Amo il fatto che la figura del detective sia stata introdotta solo tardi nel romanzo e che venga sottilmente apprezzata ma anche denigrata poiché risulta, dopotutto, inutile allo scioglimento del mistero. D'altronde in tempi in cui le ricerche dei criminali scarsamente portavano alla cattura del vero colpevole ed era molto facile sfuggire alla legge e farsi passare per qualcun altro, l'epilogo non poteva essere diverso, anche se dopo le lungaggini dello svolgimento della trama, avrei preferito un finale più articolato. Nel complesso che dire, Ave Miss Braddon.
July 25, 2022
Another solid sensation novel. Braddon makes what's going on pretty apparent from the beginning, but that doesn't really hurt it too much; you know the facts behind the ending, but not how everyone involved will respond to them.
Near the end, a Scotland Yard detective shows up who is so much like the Scotland Yard detective that shows up near the end of Aurora Floyd—extremely capable, funnily matter-of-fact in a very emotionally heightened book, unable to collect his reward because he can't put his hand on the villain in time—that I was stunned to read back in A.F. and realize he has a different last name there.
Near the end, a Scotland Yard detective shows up who is so much like the Scotland Yard detective that shows up near the end of Aurora Floyd—extremely capable, funnily matter-of-fact in a very emotionally heightened book, unable to collect his reward because he can't put his hand on the villain in time—that I was stunned to read back in A.F. and realize he has a different last name there.
January 13, 2024
Another bloodcurdling thriller from a talent capable of much greater work. Mary Elizabeth Braddon's ‘Henry Dunbar’ is a kind of ‘reversed’ detective novel: that is, when the reader is taken step by step through the crime and has no doubt by whom it has been committed. With the plot out of the way, Braddon has fun with the characters and the psychological tension of the situation. The women are disappointing – beautiful, loyal, with every virtue shining from them – but the men have some individuality and personality. Of course, nature plays its part, reflecting the mood of the moment, one of Braddon's favourite tricks.
A delightful book by a master storyteller.
A delightful book by a master storyteller.
October 20, 2020
**uni read - lit and publish**
this book was incredibly interesting, but I have to say, due to a slight obsession with crime dramas, I knew instantly what had truly happened that night in the grove! however reading and watching as it played out was incredibly interesting, and it is certainly a book I would read again!
this book was incredibly interesting, but I have to say, due to a slight obsession with crime dramas, I knew instantly what had truly happened that night in the grove! however reading and watching as it played out was incredibly interesting, and it is certainly a book I would read again!
December 9, 2016
Great mystery by Elizabeth Braddon. Even if it was pretty clear who the villan was and what had he done since the very first pages of the book, yet the plot keeps you chained and it turns till the very end of the novel.
Great writer Braddon is, if not known enough ...
Great writer Braddon is, if not known enough ...
September 27, 2023
Una sensation novel da cui mi aspettavo di più, dopo aver letto "Lady Audley's Secret".
Lo ammetto: sono arrivato a poco più di 2/3 del romanzo, ma facevo davvero fatica a sopportare i panegirici vittoriani che rendono lo sviluppo della trama troppo lento.
Lo ammetto: sono arrivato a poco più di 2/3 del romanzo, ma facevo davvero fatica a sopportare i panegirici vittoriani che rendono lo sviluppo della trama troppo lento.
October 6, 2024
Read for the Victober readathon. It was an interesting mystery even if it was easy to guess what really happened but I liked it. This was my first book by M.E.Braddon and I've got some of her other books, hoping to be able to read them this October.
September 4, 2020
Drab!
This book was dull. Outside of part about cats, it was boring! If you need something to put you to sleep this is the one
This book was dull. Outside of part about cats, it was boring! If you need something to put you to sleep this is the one
January 27, 2021
An intriguing novel about forgery, murder, and mystery. Braddon even managed to work some social critique into the novel, making it an interesting and amusing read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews