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The Pretty Sister Of Jose
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
156 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1889
About the author
Frances Hodgson Burnett
1,588 books5,046 followersFrances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), A Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1911).
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
Frances Eliza Hodgson was born in Cheetham, Manchester, England. After her father died in 1853, when Frances was 4 years old, the family fell on straitened circumstances and in 1865 emigrated to the United States, settling in New Market, Tennessee. Frances began her writing career there at age 19 to help earn money for the family, publishing stories in magazines. In 1870, her mother died. In Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1873 she married Swan M. Burnett, who became a medical doctor. Their first son Lionel was born a year later. The Burnetts lived for two years in Paris, where their second son Vivian was born, before returning to the United States to live in Washington, D.C. Burnett then began to write novels, the first of which (That Lass o' Lowrie's), was published to good reviews. Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886 and made her a popular writer of children's fiction, although her romantic adult novels written in the 1890s were also popular. She wrote and helped to produce stage versions of Little Lord Fauntleroy and A Little Princess.
Beginning in the 1880s, Burnett began to travel to England frequently and in the 1890s bought a home there, where she wrote The Secret Garden. Her elder son, Lionel, died of tuberculosis in 1890, which caused a relapse of the depression she had struggled with for much of her life. She divorced Swan Burnett in 1898, married Stephen Townesend in 1900, and divorced him in 1902. A few years later she settled in Nassau County, New York, where she died in 1924 and is buried in Roslyn Cemetery.
In 1936, a memorial sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh was erected in her honor in Central Park's Conservatory Garden. The statue depicts her two famous Secret Garden characters, Mary and Dickon.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 21, 2024
It's a lovely novella, probably for adults. It's about a young girl who is well loved by all and sweet to the young and old but snobbish to the men. She is conceited by her womanly prowess and doesn't think about what she might want. She scorns and mocks all men, unwilling to consider any of them for a husband... until the tables turn.
A story that begs the question: Are you capable of recognizing and appreciating the good that comes to you?
A story that begs the question: Are you capable of recognizing and appreciating the good that comes to you?
August 10, 2020
Frances Hodgson Burnett is known for a few books [1], and this is not one of them. That is not to say that this is a bad book. On the contrary, this book is precisely the sort of enjoyable adult romance that the author was probably able to write quickly, and if it has not survived as well as her trio of well-remembered books, it is likely because the subject matter is not the sort that was likely to give one a literary reputation but rather the sort of material that was easy for mass audiences to read, although it must be admitted that there is definitely material here that is worth thinking about deeper than might have been the case for most of the book's readers. The titular character of this book is someone whose initial behavior provokes the sort of response that readers today would consider appropriate karma, but which indicates the moral universe of the romance novel in the late 19th century in a way that is worthy of deeper investigation. A great many young women nowadays aspire to be like the pretty girl at the heart of this book and do not think of the consequences that a great many readers would wish upon them as a result.
In reading a book like this, it is worthwhile to ponder what exactly is going on with it. IN terms of its plot, it is simple enough. A brother who has made a decent living and appears to be a decent enough fellow brings his attractive sister and their grandmother, who has raised them as orphans, with him to the big city. The young woman herself is the sort of attractive young woman who attracts a large number of admirers but is intensely cruel to them, which she blames on the abuse that her father inflicted upon her mother, and upon the way that so many men ignore their wives once they are married. Naturally, she finds a particularly worthwhile man, a bullfighter, who falls in love with her whose devotion she spurns, leaving him to pronounce a curse on her before abandoning Madrid. The curse, of course, is that she would hurt as much for someone else as he hurt for her. Naturally, of course, this is exactly what happens, and the ending is happy as one would expect from this sort of romance.
A novel like this which does not aspire to literary greatness can be useful in the way that it expresses the worldview of the general public as well as the sorts of antisocial behaviors that are the plagues of not only the author's age but later ages as well. In this short novel of less than 200 pages we see how a hard-hearted young woman whose dysfunctional family background did not set her up for success in love becomes a person who can love and be loved successfully only when she understands the pain of wanting someone who is not available rather than taking the attraction of men for granted. It is only when she is able to respect and long after her bullfighting beau that she is capable of enjoying a relationship with him after nearly losing him in several different ways--through fears that he has gone to America, rumors that he has a fiance from Lisbon, as well as having been nearly killed in a bullfighting mishap. The author suggests that love is not easy but that there should be a comeuppance for a young woman who holds men in contempt. One only wishes in life it was as satisfying as it is in fiction here.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
In reading a book like this, it is worthwhile to ponder what exactly is going on with it. IN terms of its plot, it is simple enough. A brother who has made a decent living and appears to be a decent enough fellow brings his attractive sister and their grandmother, who has raised them as orphans, with him to the big city. The young woman herself is the sort of attractive young woman who attracts a large number of admirers but is intensely cruel to them, which she blames on the abuse that her father inflicted upon her mother, and upon the way that so many men ignore their wives once they are married. Naturally, she finds a particularly worthwhile man, a bullfighter, who falls in love with her whose devotion she spurns, leaving him to pronounce a curse on her before abandoning Madrid. The curse, of course, is that she would hurt as much for someone else as he hurt for her. Naturally, of course, this is exactly what happens, and the ending is happy as one would expect from this sort of romance.
A novel like this which does not aspire to literary greatness can be useful in the way that it expresses the worldview of the general public as well as the sorts of antisocial behaviors that are the plagues of not only the author's age but later ages as well. In this short novel of less than 200 pages we see how a hard-hearted young woman whose dysfunctional family background did not set her up for success in love becomes a person who can love and be loved successfully only when she understands the pain of wanting someone who is not available rather than taking the attraction of men for granted. It is only when she is able to respect and long after her bullfighting beau that she is capable of enjoying a relationship with him after nearly losing him in several different ways--through fears that he has gone to America, rumors that he has a fiance from Lisbon, as well as having been nearly killed in a bullfighting mishap. The author suggests that love is not easy but that there should be a comeuppance for a young woman who holds men in contempt. One only wishes in life it was as satisfying as it is in fiction here.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
October 4, 2013
Pepita and Sebastiano are attracted to each other by their beautiful looks and flame up passion for each other because their desires for love aren't easily fulfilled. Such passionate love doesn't last long, in my opinion. I think Sebastiano will cheat on Pepita ten years later.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews