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Esther Waters
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
412 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1894
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About the author
George Moore
519 books87 followersGeorge Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.
As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.
As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.
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August 23, 2025After reading George Moore's The Lake and The Untilled Field, both from the early 1900s, I was curious about the books he'd written earlier in his career so I chose this novel from 1894 rather than an even earlier one from 1886, A Drama In Muslin, which sounded a bit too Wilkie Collins-like to my ear. The title Esther Waters sounded much more down to earth and recalled books by fellow nineteenth century writers, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, who sometimes named books after their main characters. And before I had read many pages of Esther Waters, I was indeed reminded of two characters from Eliot's Adam Bede, one a devoted follower of a Plymouth Brethren type religion and one a poor girl who becomes pregnant and has to leave her place of work and face destitution. Esther belongs to the Plymouth Brethren and gets pregnant and faces destitution.
There are also some parallels with Hardy's Tess of the D’Urbervilles published in 1891. Like Esther, Tess is taken advantage of by an obnoxious character and gets pregnant. Later both heroines meet kinder clergymen who unfortunately can't cope with the truth about the women's past. And in both cases, the obnoxious characters turn up again and the women marry them for want of an alternative.
If it sounds as if I'm saying Moore modeled his book on Hardy's, I'm not, because that brief summary of his story is only the beginning part of the novel 'Esther Waters' (and not a spoiler), and those kinds of plots were common in the nineteenth century in any case. Think of Jane Eyre, another book named for its main character who had the opportunity to marry a sober clergyman but opted instead to go back to the sometimes obnoxious Rochester.
As it turns out, the major part of Esther's story, surprising as this may seem for a character whose religion forbids gambling of any sort, concerns not Esther herself but the business of horse-racing and betting. And the best writing in the book is the descriptions of the jockeys, of the people who study the 'form', of shady bookies, and of the races themselves, plus the English landscape they take place in.
I wondered where George Moore, an Irish man who went to Paris in his twenties to study painting, had picked up such detailed knowledge about English horse-racing until I started reading his autobiography, Hail and Farewell!. His father kept horses at his Irish estate, and George's first ambition was to be a jockey. Then, in the 1860s, his family took a house in London where his father had duties as a Member of Parliament. George often ducked out of school to hang out in the back rooms of London pubs where betting took place illegally. It was there he learned to study the 'form' and confirm his ambition to be what was known as a 'gentleman jockey'. Of course his parents eventually discovered the true nature of his studies, and packed him off to stay with relatives in Sussex. But those relatives also kept horses and George got to be a 'gentleman jockey' for a short while.
All of that experience feeds into Esther Waters' story and make it rich with detail—there's even a minor character called Ginger who is a 'gentleman jockey', and George Moore himself had red hair. Another of the characters in the story, a butler and incurable gambler called John Randall, is particularly well described so I wasn't surprised to find the following passage in Moore's autobiography. It's a reference to George Moore's father's own short career as a jockey on a horse called Anonymous, but it is more particularly a telling reference to the father's butler, Joseph Appleby:
"I remember going to Joseph, a taciturn, clandestine little man whom there is no necessity to describe here, for he is described in "Esther Waters" under the name of John Randal, to find out the truth—whether Anonymous [George's father's horse] would have won the Liverpool if he had not turned a shoe. Joseph had done some riding himself, and was disposed to be critical, and he thought—well, it is difficult to remember exactly his criticism of my father's riding, for he had a habit of dropping his voice and muttering to himself in his shirt-collar, mumbling and turning suddenly to his press, that wonderful press in which all things could be found.
It was out of that press that "Esther Waters" came, out of the stable-yard and out of my own heart."
There you have it. It's the most important thing that needs to be said about this book.
But Virginia Woolf had something to say about this book too and her opinion is part of the reason I'm now reading Moore's memoirs. So I'll give the last word to Virginia:
"On the face of it, ESTHER WATERS has all the appearance of a great novel; it has sincerity, shapeliness, style; it has surpassing seriousness and integrity; but because Mr. Moore has not the strength to project Esther from himself its virtues collapse and fall about it like a tent with a broken pole. There it lies, this novel without a heroine, and what remains of it is George Moore himself, a ruin of lovely language and some exquisite descriptions of the Sussex downs. For the novelist who has no dramatic power, no fire of conviction within, leans upon nature for support; she lifts him up and enhances his mood without destroying it. But the defects of a novelist may well be the glories of his brother the autobiographer, and we find, to our delight, that the very qualities which weaken Mr. Moore’s novels are the making of his memoirs."
There are also some parallels with Hardy's Tess of the D’Urbervilles published in 1891. Like Esther, Tess is taken advantage of by an obnoxious character and gets pregnant. Later both heroines meet kinder clergymen who unfortunately can't cope with the truth about the women's past. And in both cases, the obnoxious characters turn up again and the women marry them for want of an alternative.
If it sounds as if I'm saying Moore modeled his book on Hardy's, I'm not, because that brief summary of his story is only the beginning part of the novel 'Esther Waters' (and not a spoiler), and those kinds of plots were common in the nineteenth century in any case. Think of Jane Eyre, another book named for its main character who had the opportunity to marry a sober clergyman but opted instead to go back to the sometimes obnoxious Rochester.
As it turns out, the major part of Esther's story, surprising as this may seem for a character whose religion forbids gambling of any sort, concerns not Esther herself but the business of horse-racing and betting. And the best writing in the book is the descriptions of the jockeys, of the people who study the 'form', of shady bookies, and of the races themselves, plus the English landscape they take place in.
I wondered where George Moore, an Irish man who went to Paris in his twenties to study painting, had picked up such detailed knowledge about English horse-racing until I started reading his autobiography, Hail and Farewell!. His father kept horses at his Irish estate, and George's first ambition was to be a jockey. Then, in the 1860s, his family took a house in London where his father had duties as a Member of Parliament. George often ducked out of school to hang out in the back rooms of London pubs where betting took place illegally. It was there he learned to study the 'form' and confirm his ambition to be what was known as a 'gentleman jockey'. Of course his parents eventually discovered the true nature of his studies, and packed him off to stay with relatives in Sussex. But those relatives also kept horses and George got to be a 'gentleman jockey' for a short while.
All of that experience feeds into Esther Waters' story and make it rich with detail—there's even a minor character called Ginger who is a 'gentleman jockey', and George Moore himself had red hair. Another of the characters in the story, a butler and incurable gambler called John Randall, is particularly well described so I wasn't surprised to find the following passage in Moore's autobiography. It's a reference to George Moore's father's own short career as a jockey on a horse called Anonymous, but it is more particularly a telling reference to the father's butler, Joseph Appleby:
"I remember going to Joseph, a taciturn, clandestine little man whom there is no necessity to describe here, for he is described in "Esther Waters" under the name of John Randal, to find out the truth—whether Anonymous [George's father's horse] would have won the Liverpool if he had not turned a shoe. Joseph had done some riding himself, and was disposed to be critical, and he thought—well, it is difficult to remember exactly his criticism of my father's riding, for he had a habit of dropping his voice and muttering to himself in his shirt-collar, mumbling and turning suddenly to his press, that wonderful press in which all things could be found.
It was out of that press that "Esther Waters" came, out of the stable-yard and out of my own heart."
There you have it. It's the most important thing that needs to be said about this book.
But Virginia Woolf had something to say about this book too and her opinion is part of the reason I'm now reading Moore's memoirs. So I'll give the last word to Virginia:
"On the face of it, ESTHER WATERS has all the appearance of a great novel; it has sincerity, shapeliness, style; it has surpassing seriousness and integrity; but because Mr. Moore has not the strength to project Esther from himself its virtues collapse and fall about it like a tent with a broken pole. There it lies, this novel without a heroine, and what remains of it is George Moore himself, a ruin of lovely language and some exquisite descriptions of the Sussex downs. For the novelist who has no dramatic power, no fire of conviction within, leans upon nature for support; she lifts him up and enhances his mood without destroying it. But the defects of a novelist may well be the glories of his brother the autobiographer, and we find, to our delight, that the very qualities which weaken Mr. Moore’s novels are the making of his memoirs."
June 27, 2017
Esther never gives up; Never backs down. I like that in a heroine.
February 26, 2019
I enjoyed this one, but it's not my favourite George Moore. While it very interestingly examines a lot of important themes, I found the pacing a bit odd and the ending a little disappointing. There's also a lot about horseracing in this book - maybe too much!
August 23, 2011
Ester Waters is the story of a poor young servant girl in a naturalist style influenced by Emile Zola. Like most such novels the story could be unfairly summarised in but a few sentences and could be labelled `boring', especially if you can tick the usual boxes of `someone dying of consumption' (usually at the most poignant moment), `a disgraced pregnancy' or `has ruthless boss/guardian/husband' - all three are here with Ester.
The story is an unmarried servant girl gets pregnant, loses her job and tries to bring up the child alone; she is religious and is ultimately resolved with the kid's father. There are many interesting characters including William (Ester's boyfriend) and Mrs Barfield (Ester's boss who she returns to at the end) - both of whom add significant depth to the otherwise simple story. The people really do come across as rounded with understandable good and bad sides, there are no caricatures - even the paid baby killer isn't evil as such. Moore clearly took more than just the naturalist style of Zola by rather than just being clear and unambiguous about the late 1800's, he based the tale around a dominant theme as a backdrop (which Zola does all the time by the way) which in this case is `horse racing/betting' and its influences on rich and mainly poor alike.
I liked the dilemma and story contrast for Ester by advancing out of her poverty by getting back with William who is now making money by running a betting book - she is now rendering poor families poorer.
I was a little disappointed in a few areas: one is Ester is constantly fearful of the workhouse and does end up there once; yet we get absolutely no description of her time there - this struck me as a real oversight. The second is that, despite overcoming Victorian moral censorship at the time, the author appears still quite inhibited in some descriptions.
I've read quite widely on naturalist style of the period including of course Zola, Gissing, Fontane, Queiros, Galdos, Prevost and perhaps de Balzac, Braddon, Maugham and Mann. This is definitely the best book to come close to being as good as Zola (my personal bench mark) and it's certainly worth the read. I will definitely be looking out for more of this author (but will need to be careful as I understand Moore's style does vary over his life and was less regarded laterly)
The story is an unmarried servant girl gets pregnant, loses her job and tries to bring up the child alone; she is religious and is ultimately resolved with the kid's father. There are many interesting characters including William (Ester's boyfriend) and Mrs Barfield (Ester's boss who she returns to at the end) - both of whom add significant depth to the otherwise simple story. The people really do come across as rounded with understandable good and bad sides, there are no caricatures - even the paid baby killer isn't evil as such. Moore clearly took more than just the naturalist style of Zola by rather than just being clear and unambiguous about the late 1800's, he based the tale around a dominant theme as a backdrop (which Zola does all the time by the way) which in this case is `horse racing/betting' and its influences on rich and mainly poor alike.
I liked the dilemma and story contrast for Ester by advancing out of her poverty by getting back with William who is now making money by running a betting book - she is now rendering poor families poorer.
I was a little disappointed in a few areas: one is Ester is constantly fearful of the workhouse and does end up there once; yet we get absolutely no description of her time there - this struck me as a real oversight. The second is that, despite overcoming Victorian moral censorship at the time, the author appears still quite inhibited in some descriptions.
I've read quite widely on naturalist style of the period including of course Zola, Gissing, Fontane, Queiros, Galdos, Prevost and perhaps de Balzac, Braddon, Maugham and Mann. This is definitely the best book to come close to being as good as Zola (my personal bench mark) and it's certainly worth the read. I will definitely be looking out for more of this author (but will need to be careful as I understand Moore's style does vary over his life and was less regarded laterly)
August 10, 2023
“No, I’ve not changed, Fred, but things has turned out different. One doesn’t do the good that one would like in the world; one has to do the good that comes to one to do.”
Overall I enjoyed this Victorian tale of a serving girl who becomes pregnant and struggles to raise her son, make the best choices she can for her life, love with an open heart, and hold on to her faith. It is a moral tale, but I would not say a "preachy" one.
I found the first half of the novel far superior to the second half, which might be primarily because of the extreme detail Moore provides of the horse-racing industry and its deleterious effect on the poorer population of England in the later part of the novel. As is usually the case, for the rich it is sport, a little money or even a great deal of money lost hardly affects them; for the poor it is starvation and the strange kind of hope that gamblers get from believing the next one will be the big break.
The inclusion of the horse-racing is instrumental to the story, but the lesson became a bit over-long in places. Still, if one is to understand the evil of gambling, it is necessary to show the winning, the losing, the obsession, and the end result. That probably could not have been done succinctly.
What I did like about this novel was Esther. She is a strong, practical woman, who battles against unfathomable odds to salvage her life, when others around her tell her it is over. She does not equivocate or excuse herself, she accepts the blame but fights the consequences; and she believes that God is in her corner and that she has failed Him, not that He has failed her. She believes in hope and redemption and in being grateful for whatever comes her way. She is admirable, without being too good or too implausible. She is unselfish, when her life could so easily make her bitter and grasping.
The book has a rather weak ending, as if Moore was not quite sure exactly where to leave off. But, I tried to envision a different ending and could not, so I determined to be satisfied with what was written. I will probably read more of George Moore, so I will call this one a success.
3.5 stars, which I have rounded down.
Overall I enjoyed this Victorian tale of a serving girl who becomes pregnant and struggles to raise her son, make the best choices she can for her life, love with an open heart, and hold on to her faith. It is a moral tale, but I would not say a "preachy" one.
I found the first half of the novel far superior to the second half, which might be primarily because of the extreme detail Moore provides of the horse-racing industry and its deleterious effect on the poorer population of England in the later part of the novel. As is usually the case, for the rich it is sport, a little money or even a great deal of money lost hardly affects them; for the poor it is starvation and the strange kind of hope that gamblers get from believing the next one will be the big break.
The inclusion of the horse-racing is instrumental to the story, but the lesson became a bit over-long in places. Still, if one is to understand the evil of gambling, it is necessary to show the winning, the losing, the obsession, and the end result. That probably could not have been done succinctly.
What I did like about this novel was Esther. She is a strong, practical woman, who battles against unfathomable odds to salvage her life, when others around her tell her it is over. She does not equivocate or excuse herself, she accepts the blame but fights the consequences; and she believes that God is in her corner and that she has failed Him, not that He has failed her. She believes in hope and redemption and in being grateful for whatever comes her way. She is admirable, without being too good or too implausible. She is unselfish, when her life could so easily make her bitter and grasping.
The book has a rather weak ending, as if Moore was not quite sure exactly where to leave off. But, I tried to envision a different ending and could not, so I determined to be satisfied with what was written. I will probably read more of George Moore, so I will call this one a success.
3.5 stars, which I have rounded down.
March 27, 2011
I'm amazed to be happy to give such a high rating to a story of an unlucky girl who has a baby outside marriage written by a Victorian man, but while I read this a few years ago, I did think that George Moore's handling of the subject was warm and sensitive. Given Victorian delicacies regarding sexuality, the vagueness as to whether Esther has been taken advantage of by her lover or was compliant because of the extra ale she had is perhaps to be expected, and rather similar to Thomas Hary's equivocation about Tess.
I wished the time Esther spent in the workhouse might have had some detailed treatment, but overall, the overwhelming love that inspires Esther to fight on and keep her baby in an era when moral condemnation was appallingly unChristian is brilliantl done; the characters are real enough, the scenes evocative,and when the cad comes back it is not with a twirl of his moustache and a clap of ominous thunder as in Hardy, but in circumstances that make us realise he is not such bad fellow after all.
The relationship between him and Esther is believable, as is the ending.
Esther, with her hot temper and natural humanity conflicting with her doctrinaire religious views, is very sympathetic.
I wished the time Esther spent in the workhouse might have had some detailed treatment, but overall, the overwhelming love that inspires Esther to fight on and keep her baby in an era when moral condemnation was appallingly unChristian is brilliantl done; the characters are real enough, the scenes evocative,and when the cad comes back it is not with a twirl of his moustache and a clap of ominous thunder as in Hardy, but in circumstances that make us realise he is not such bad fellow after all.
The relationship between him and Esther is believable, as is the ending.
Esther, with her hot temper and natural humanity conflicting with her doctrinaire religious views, is very sympathetic.
May 14, 2017
I think of this as the Victorian anti-romance. There is a little romance present, but overlaying everything, the driving force, is the struggle to survive--and it truly is an epic battle, at least for our protagonist, Esther. She literally spends a great deal of her life not knowing if she's going to have a roof over her head or food for the next day. In today's world of multiple government-assistance programs, it's an eye-opening glimpse into a different existence. But she's a fighter, our Esther. She refuses to give up, she refuses to take the easy way out. She powers on, making whatever sacrifices she needs to make to ensure her son's survival and comfort. As I write this on Mother's Day, she is the poster child for the loving, selfless mother who gives up everything for the welfare of her child.
This book is also a morality lesson on the evils of gambling. In both dialogue and action, the message is clear: gambling is evil and results in destruction of both families and individuals. It also helps you understand how some people get sucked into it, especially those who can least afford it. As foolish as it seems for these poverty-stricken people to be betting their meager amounts on the speed of a particular horse, these few coins that are all that stand between them and destitution, you can see why they do it. They are driven by desperation, and this is literally the only chance they will have to get the money they so desperately need. They have nothing to pawn, they can't get a payday loan, and they can't get a cash advance on their credit card. Losing will worsen their situation, but it's bad to begin with, so . . . they go for it. Spoiler alert--it doesn't end well. No one walks away with their winnings to live a life of idle luxury.
Recommended for anyone interested into a glimpse into the hardships of life in Victorian England--you know, the lives of people who aren't measuring their days in calling cards and clothing changes, drives in the park and invitations to balls and assemblies.
This book is also a morality lesson on the evils of gambling. In both dialogue and action, the message is clear: gambling is evil and results in destruction of both families and individuals. It also helps you understand how some people get sucked into it, especially those who can least afford it. As foolish as it seems for these poverty-stricken people to be betting their meager amounts on the speed of a particular horse, these few coins that are all that stand between them and destitution, you can see why they do it. They are driven by desperation, and this is literally the only chance they will have to get the money they so desperately need. They have nothing to pawn, they can't get a payday loan, and they can't get a cash advance on their credit card. Losing will worsen their situation, but it's bad to begin with, so . . . they go for it. Spoiler alert--it doesn't end well. No one walks away with their winnings to live a life of idle luxury.
Recommended for anyone interested into a glimpse into the hardships of life in Victorian England--you know, the lives of people who aren't measuring their days in calling cards and clothing changes, drives in the park and invitations to balls and assemblies.
August 22, 2020
I really really liked this! I love reading Victorian book that look at fallen women - their destitution, their shame, their life, etc. Every Victorian author has something different say on the matter, and I really liked Moore’s sympathetic portrayal of the figure. Esther was such a lovely character to follow, and her life was far from easy. A brill read.
Just felt the last 100 pages or so were a little dull - when she had settled, the horse racing narrative just grew a little boring and repetitive.
Just felt the last 100 pages or so were a little dull - when she had settled, the horse racing narrative just grew a little boring and repetitive.
January 22, 2020
Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894. The novel stands out among Moore's publications as the book whose immediate success brought him financial security. Continuously revised by Moore (1899, 1917, 1920, 1931), it is often understood to be his best novel. This last sentence makes me wonder which revision I got to read but I can't remember if I ever knew, and more likely I never knew so I'll have to go and look if I remember to which is doubtful. The point is that the first edition without all the revisions gave him financial security and is the one everybody liked. I liked it too. Esther Waters is one of a group of Victorian novels that depict the life of a "fallen woman". This novel would go on my list of "why do I have this book and where did it come from?" list but I don't have one, not that I don't enjoy books from this imaginary list, I just have no idea how I got the book, it doesn't sound familiar, the author I never heard of, so why do I have it in the first place? Since I did like it and since I knew nothing about the author I looked him up, I wanted to see how many other books he may have written and the answer is, a lot. None that I've ever seen wandering around a book store, new or used. This is the first thing I read about him:
"George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day."
Now before I read the above paragragh I looked at a painting of him and my first thought, also my second and third, was "what a goofy painting".....
..... below the painting the artist is listed as Édouard Manet. Now I would almost bet that he is a famous artist, greatest ever type because I almost always think their paintings are goofy so I checked and spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why some of his paintings are so much "clearer" than others and even more time trying to figure out why in his painting The Luncheon on the Grass the woman has no clothing on, but I finally gave up and returned to Mr. Moore and his life. Moore is often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist, who is regarding him as this I don't know, but since I can't think of any other Irish novelists off the top of my head he can have the title, for the moment anyway. George Moore's family had lived in Moore Hall, near Lough Carra, County Mayo, Ireland for almost a century and when reading this short biography of our author I read the following which cleared up something about the book I just finished:
"His father had again turned his attention to horse breeding and in 1861 brought his champion horse, Croagh Patrick, to England for a successful racing season, together with his wife and nine-year-old son. For a while George was left at Cliff's stables until his father decided to send George to his alma mater facilitated by his winnings."
When reading this book I was always reminded of three of my favorite authors, Dickens, Zola, and Trollope. Dickens because every once in a while I would be reading along and there would be a little star telling me that there was a note waiting for me at the end of the book, so I would of course go back and read it and occasionally get comments like this:
"In terms of ignorance, one might think of Jo, the illiterate crossing-sweeper in Dickens Bleak House"
"The first difficulty is one Dickens commonly highlights, of class barriers to human understanding and sympathy"
It wouldn't have reminded me of Dickens if it wasn't for that, the same for Zola, because of comments like this:
"Written in a Zola-like naturalistic style"
"Moore was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola."
If it wasn't for things like that I don't think I would have noticed, I can't think of anything good happening for anyone in this book and yet it's still not as depressing as Zola. I wonder why I like Zola so much in the first place? Anyway, then there is Anthony Trollope, I love his novels, I read all of them I can find and most of them I've read more than once, but......I've learned much more about fox hunting through his novels than I ever thought I would. Or ever wanted to know. I'm not sure if I ever got through one of his books without going through one or two fox hunts. Now before I once again find myself talking about the poor fox that get to run away from dogs all day, and dogs who get to chase fox all day, and the poor horses who have to follow the dogs no matter where they go, over fences, under tree limbs, all for a fox, I will get back to "Esther Waters" hopefully and talk about why it reminds me of Trollope, and that is because of horse racing.
Thanks to Esther Waters or I guess thanks to George Moore I know so, so much about horse racing, none of it much good. I've learned that jockeys eat almost nothing, in this book anyway. It's also extremely important what the weight of a horse should be, I know about stables, and exercise (for a horse that is), and distances, and handicaps, and favorites, all kinds of things I'll never have use for or memory for. The one thing we can't get away from is the betting:
"William stated the various items. He had had a bet of ten shillings to one on one race and had lost; he had had half-a-crown on another and had lost; in a word, three-and-sixpence had to be subtracted from his winnings on Silver Braid. These amounted to more than five pounds. William's face flushed with pleasure, and the world seemed to be his when he slipped four sovereigns and a handful of silver into his waistcoat pocket. Should he put a sovereign of his winnings on Silver Braid for the Chesterfield? Half-a-sovereign was enough! …The danger of risking a sovereign—a whole sovereign—frightened him."
"The fat betting man and the scarecrow little butler walked aside and talked, both apparently indifferent to the impatience of a number of small customers; sometimes Joey called in his shrill cracked voice if he might lay ten half-crowns to one, or five shillings to one, as the case might be."
"Well," said William, "I haven't been making a book as long as some of them, but since you ask me what I think I tell you straight. I don't care a damn whether they backs according to their judgment, or their dreams, or their fancy. The cove that follows favourites, or the cove that backs a jockey's mount, the cove that makes an occasional bet when he hears of a good thing, the cove that bets regular, 'cording to a system—the cove, yer know, what doubles every time—or the cove that bets as the mood takes him—them and all the other coves, too numerous to be mentioned, I'm glad to do business with. I cries out to one as 'eartily as to another: 'The old firm, the old firm, don't forget the old firm…. What can I do for you to-day, sir?'
Now all this horse talk is because our hero, well not a hero, but the main male character is William, we meet him in the first chapter when Esther arrives at Woodview to be a kitchen-maid. She has just arrived and is walking up the avenue from the train station when she sees William, leaning over the paling and smoking a pipe. William is the son of Mrs. Latch, the cook at Woodview. William does what every other man there does, thinks about horses, takes care of horses, and bets on horses. As the weeks go by Esther becomes more familiar with her surroundings and with William while we become more familiar with horses. The whole thing ends up with Esther leaving Woodview unmarried and pregnant. Thinking of all the things that happen from this point on, women being beaten by their husbands, women dying during childbirth, suicide, workhouses, gambling, drunkedness, letting your families not to mention yourself starve, and just plain dying of other stuff, this book is sounding more like Zola all the time. To find out which of the people connected with Esther die of what, or drink what, or loose how much money on what, you will have to read the book. Oh, I feel like I'm going backwards, but I found Moore's Epistle Dedicatory interesting:
My dear Rolleston.
It is quite in accordance with the humour of the great Aristophanes above us, beneath us, within us, without us, that an Irishman should write a book as characteristically English as Don Quixote is Spanish, and when the author of Esther Waters dedicates his work to another Irishman, it must be plain to all that he is holding the mirror up to Nature. But there is another reason why I should dedicate this book to you. You are an Irish Protestant like myself, and you could always love Ireland without hating England--. But I am past my patience trying to find logic in a dedication which is an outburst of friendly feeling for an oldfriend.
It would be pleasant to look down the last five-and-twenty, years, but I will look no further than yester-year, when we were engaged in trying to wheedle the English public into accepting the only solution (yours) of the Irish difficulty--a line of railway, linking a western harbour with a northern tunnel joining Ireland to Scotland. We failed, of course, in practical result (the official mind repels reason), but our adventure was not without moral gain, for two Irishmen did set out 'to strike a blow for Ireland' without coming to blows. How shall we explain it: that the great Aristophanes above us, beneath us, within us, without us, willed it so? and that his divine humour was not content with less than that the letters that you wrote and that I signed must be better written than those you signed yourself.
'It is a modest creed, and yet Pleasant if one considers it,'
to think that your solicitude for others compelled you to give your best to your friend.
Yours always: George Moore
Read the book, let me know what you think of Esther, and William, Fred, Mrs. Barfield, Sarah, Bill and all the others. You can let me know what you think of horse racing or even fox hunting I suppose. I am on my way to find out who T.W. Rolleston is, oh, here is the Luncheon painting. Happy reading.
"George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day."
Now before I read the above paragragh I looked at a painting of him and my first thought, also my second and third, was "what a goofy painting".....
..... below the painting the artist is listed as Édouard Manet. Now I would almost bet that he is a famous artist, greatest ever type because I almost always think their paintings are goofy so I checked and spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why some of his paintings are so much "clearer" than others and even more time trying to figure out why in his painting The Luncheon on the Grass the woman has no clothing on, but I finally gave up and returned to Mr. Moore and his life. Moore is often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist, who is regarding him as this I don't know, but since I can't think of any other Irish novelists off the top of my head he can have the title, for the moment anyway. George Moore's family had lived in Moore Hall, near Lough Carra, County Mayo, Ireland for almost a century and when reading this short biography of our author I read the following which cleared up something about the book I just finished:
"His father had again turned his attention to horse breeding and in 1861 brought his champion horse, Croagh Patrick, to England for a successful racing season, together with his wife and nine-year-old son. For a while George was left at Cliff's stables until his father decided to send George to his alma mater facilitated by his winnings."
When reading this book I was always reminded of three of my favorite authors, Dickens, Zola, and Trollope. Dickens because every once in a while I would be reading along and there would be a little star telling me that there was a note waiting for me at the end of the book, so I would of course go back and read it and occasionally get comments like this:
"In terms of ignorance, one might think of Jo, the illiterate crossing-sweeper in Dickens Bleak House"
"The first difficulty is one Dickens commonly highlights, of class barriers to human understanding and sympathy"
It wouldn't have reminded me of Dickens if it wasn't for that, the same for Zola, because of comments like this:
"Written in a Zola-like naturalistic style"
"Moore was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola."
If it wasn't for things like that I don't think I would have noticed, I can't think of anything good happening for anyone in this book and yet it's still not as depressing as Zola. I wonder why I like Zola so much in the first place? Anyway, then there is Anthony Trollope, I love his novels, I read all of them I can find and most of them I've read more than once, but......I've learned much more about fox hunting through his novels than I ever thought I would. Or ever wanted to know. I'm not sure if I ever got through one of his books without going through one or two fox hunts. Now before I once again find myself talking about the poor fox that get to run away from dogs all day, and dogs who get to chase fox all day, and the poor horses who have to follow the dogs no matter where they go, over fences, under tree limbs, all for a fox, I will get back to "Esther Waters" hopefully and talk about why it reminds me of Trollope, and that is because of horse racing.
Thanks to Esther Waters or I guess thanks to George Moore I know so, so much about horse racing, none of it much good. I've learned that jockeys eat almost nothing, in this book anyway. It's also extremely important what the weight of a horse should be, I know about stables, and exercise (for a horse that is), and distances, and handicaps, and favorites, all kinds of things I'll never have use for or memory for. The one thing we can't get away from is the betting:
"William stated the various items. He had had a bet of ten shillings to one on one race and had lost; he had had half-a-crown on another and had lost; in a word, three-and-sixpence had to be subtracted from his winnings on Silver Braid. These amounted to more than five pounds. William's face flushed with pleasure, and the world seemed to be his when he slipped four sovereigns and a handful of silver into his waistcoat pocket. Should he put a sovereign of his winnings on Silver Braid for the Chesterfield? Half-a-sovereign was enough! …The danger of risking a sovereign—a whole sovereign—frightened him."
"The fat betting man and the scarecrow little butler walked aside and talked, both apparently indifferent to the impatience of a number of small customers; sometimes Joey called in his shrill cracked voice if he might lay ten half-crowns to one, or five shillings to one, as the case might be."
"Well," said William, "I haven't been making a book as long as some of them, but since you ask me what I think I tell you straight. I don't care a damn whether they backs according to their judgment, or their dreams, or their fancy. The cove that follows favourites, or the cove that backs a jockey's mount, the cove that makes an occasional bet when he hears of a good thing, the cove that bets regular, 'cording to a system—the cove, yer know, what doubles every time—or the cove that bets as the mood takes him—them and all the other coves, too numerous to be mentioned, I'm glad to do business with. I cries out to one as 'eartily as to another: 'The old firm, the old firm, don't forget the old firm…. What can I do for you to-day, sir?'
Now all this horse talk is because our hero, well not a hero, but the main male character is William, we meet him in the first chapter when Esther arrives at Woodview to be a kitchen-maid. She has just arrived and is walking up the avenue from the train station when she sees William, leaning over the paling and smoking a pipe. William is the son of Mrs. Latch, the cook at Woodview. William does what every other man there does, thinks about horses, takes care of horses, and bets on horses. As the weeks go by Esther becomes more familiar with her surroundings and with William while we become more familiar with horses. The whole thing ends up with Esther leaving Woodview unmarried and pregnant. Thinking of all the things that happen from this point on, women being beaten by their husbands, women dying during childbirth, suicide, workhouses, gambling, drunkedness, letting your families not to mention yourself starve, and just plain dying of other stuff, this book is sounding more like Zola all the time. To find out which of the people connected with Esther die of what, or drink what, or loose how much money on what, you will have to read the book. Oh, I feel like I'm going backwards, but I found Moore's Epistle Dedicatory interesting:
My dear Rolleston.
It is quite in accordance with the humour of the great Aristophanes above us, beneath us, within us, without us, that an Irishman should write a book as characteristically English as Don Quixote is Spanish, and when the author of Esther Waters dedicates his work to another Irishman, it must be plain to all that he is holding the mirror up to Nature. But there is another reason why I should dedicate this book to you. You are an Irish Protestant like myself, and you could always love Ireland without hating England--. But I am past my patience trying to find logic in a dedication which is an outburst of friendly feeling for an oldfriend.
It would be pleasant to look down the last five-and-twenty, years, but I will look no further than yester-year, when we were engaged in trying to wheedle the English public into accepting the only solution (yours) of the Irish difficulty--a line of railway, linking a western harbour with a northern tunnel joining Ireland to Scotland. We failed, of course, in practical result (the official mind repels reason), but our adventure was not without moral gain, for two Irishmen did set out 'to strike a blow for Ireland' without coming to blows. How shall we explain it: that the great Aristophanes above us, beneath us, within us, without us, willed it so? and that his divine humour was not content with less than that the letters that you wrote and that I signed must be better written than those you signed yourself.
'It is a modest creed, and yet Pleasant if one considers it,'
to think that your solicitude for others compelled you to give your best to your friend.
Yours always: George Moore
Read the book, let me know what you think of Esther, and William, Fred, Mrs. Barfield, Sarah, Bill and all the others. You can let me know what you think of horse racing or even fox hunting I suppose. I am on my way to find out who T.W. Rolleston is, oh, here is the Luncheon painting. Happy reading.
March 25, 2014
‘Esther Waters’ was one of those classic novels that I circled for a long time, wondering if I should pick it up or pass it by. The story of a servant who fell pregnant and then struggled to raise her illegitimate son could be profound but it could be grim. When I read Emma’s wonderful review I knew that I had to pick the book up, and now that I’ve read it I have to say that I’m very glad that I did.
It focuses on many of the problems of Victorian society – poverty, gambling, intoxication, inequity – but it is a wonderfully readable book, telling the story of a fascinating – and sometimes infuriating – heroine.
Esther’s story began as she left her home and family to take up a new position, as a kitchen maid in a big house on a country estate. She was apprehensive, but her pride made her hold her head up, and her spirit made her stand up for herself when the cook suggested she get straight to work without changing her dress, which might have been shabby but it was the best that she had.
Her upbringing, among the Plymouth Brethren, had given her a strong faith and firm principles, but it was her pride and her spirit that would prove to be both her downfall and her saving grace.
I was inclined to like her, and to want the best for her. As the story of her family, her upbringing, her circumstances emerged I came to understand what had shaped her character. She was the product of all of that; she was a real, fallible, living, breathing human being.
The style, simple and natural, brought her world to life and allowed her story to shine.
William was the cook’s son. He was eager to secure a position on the estate, to be near that stables, the horses, the gambling that were at the centre of life there. And he took a shine to Esther. She didn’t approve of his gambling, but she liked him, and they grew close, and they began to talk about marriage and a future together.
There was always a buzz in the air on race days, especially race days, especially when a horse from the estate was running, especially when that horse won. For all she disapproved Esther couldn’t help being affected by it, and maybe that was why a line was crossed.
And there were consequences.
Esther, knowing that she had sinned, pushed William away. He took his rejection to heart, he turned his attention elsewhere, and it wasn’t long before he ran off with one of the daughters of the house.
Not long after that, Esther realised that she was expecting his child.
She new that she would have to leave her job, she knew life would be a struggle, and it was, but when her son was born she drew strength from her new role, and bringing him up well became the focus of her life.
The only path open to her after the birth, the only thing that would keep her out of the workhouse, was to pay a baby farmer to care for her child and become a wet-nurse.
Esther was in a horrible situation, and I felt for her and admired the maturity she found to cope.
It worked for a while, but when her child was ill, when her mistress would not let her go to him, when the wet-nurse offered to take him off her hands forever, realised how unjust it all was:
“It is none of the child’s fault if he hasn’t got a father, nor is it right that he should be deserted for that… and it is not for you to tell me to do such a thing. If you had made sacrifice of yourself in the beginning and nursed your own child such thoughts would not have come to you. But when you hire a poor girl such as me to give the milk that belongs to another to your child, you think nothing of the poor deserted one. He is but a bastard, you say, and had better be dead and done with. I see it all now; I have been thinking it out. It is all so hidden up that the meaning is not clear at first, but what it comes to is this, that fine folks like you pays the money, and Mrs. Spires and her like gets rid of the poor little things. Change the milk a few times, a little neglect, and the poor servant girl is spared the trouble of bringing up her baby and can make a handsome child of the rich woman’s little starveling.”
That was, for me, the defining moment in Esther’s story. She would do her best for her son but she would never compromise her principles. That would cause difficulties as she had to work and care for her child, and there were times when she fell very low, but there were also times when good people did their best to help her. And she might have had more, but she was cautious and would not let others now what her circumstances were.
It was when she was doing well, when she was on the point of marrying a good man she met through the Plymouth Brethren, that the father of her child came back into her life. William hadn’t known that there was a child, but when he found out he was ready to be that child’s father.
He wasn’t a bad man, but a fundamentally decent man with a fatal flaw – his love of gambling.
Esther was horribly torn, but she knew that the right thing to do was to marry William, to be a good wife and mother. She was, and she stood by her husband always. Because it was the right thing to do, and because she loved him.
He loved her too, and there were some touching moments as the story of their marriage played out.
Most of all though she loved their son, and she achieved what she set out to do. She raised her son well and she was so proud when he became a soldier ….
The story of how Esther reached that point was wonderful.
It was focused on the reasons for the choices she made, and it did that so very well and with such understanding, but there were gaps. The stories of the conception, of the birth, of stays in the workhouse, of the wedding ….. so much was missing.
But in the end those things weren’t important.
I watched the passage of Esther’s life, I cared, and I understood her journey.
That is what will stay with me.
It focuses on many of the problems of Victorian society – poverty, gambling, intoxication, inequity – but it is a wonderfully readable book, telling the story of a fascinating – and sometimes infuriating – heroine.
Esther’s story began as she left her home and family to take up a new position, as a kitchen maid in a big house on a country estate. She was apprehensive, but her pride made her hold her head up, and her spirit made her stand up for herself when the cook suggested she get straight to work without changing her dress, which might have been shabby but it was the best that she had.
Her upbringing, among the Plymouth Brethren, had given her a strong faith and firm principles, but it was her pride and her spirit that would prove to be both her downfall and her saving grace.
I was inclined to like her, and to want the best for her. As the story of her family, her upbringing, her circumstances emerged I came to understand what had shaped her character. She was the product of all of that; she was a real, fallible, living, breathing human being.
The style, simple and natural, brought her world to life and allowed her story to shine.
William was the cook’s son. He was eager to secure a position on the estate, to be near that stables, the horses, the gambling that were at the centre of life there. And he took a shine to Esther. She didn’t approve of his gambling, but she liked him, and they grew close, and they began to talk about marriage and a future together.
There was always a buzz in the air on race days, especially race days, especially when a horse from the estate was running, especially when that horse won. For all she disapproved Esther couldn’t help being affected by it, and maybe that was why a line was crossed.
And there were consequences.
Esther, knowing that she had sinned, pushed William away. He took his rejection to heart, he turned his attention elsewhere, and it wasn’t long before he ran off with one of the daughters of the house.
Not long after that, Esther realised that she was expecting his child.
She new that she would have to leave her job, she knew life would be a struggle, and it was, but when her son was born she drew strength from her new role, and bringing him up well became the focus of her life.
The only path open to her after the birth, the only thing that would keep her out of the workhouse, was to pay a baby farmer to care for her child and become a wet-nurse.
Esther was in a horrible situation, and I felt for her and admired the maturity she found to cope.
It worked for a while, but when her child was ill, when her mistress would not let her go to him, when the wet-nurse offered to take him off her hands forever, realised how unjust it all was:
“It is none of the child’s fault if he hasn’t got a father, nor is it right that he should be deserted for that… and it is not for you to tell me to do such a thing. If you had made sacrifice of yourself in the beginning and nursed your own child such thoughts would not have come to you. But when you hire a poor girl such as me to give the milk that belongs to another to your child, you think nothing of the poor deserted one. He is but a bastard, you say, and had better be dead and done with. I see it all now; I have been thinking it out. It is all so hidden up that the meaning is not clear at first, but what it comes to is this, that fine folks like you pays the money, and Mrs. Spires and her like gets rid of the poor little things. Change the milk a few times, a little neglect, and the poor servant girl is spared the trouble of bringing up her baby and can make a handsome child of the rich woman’s little starveling.”
That was, for me, the defining moment in Esther’s story. She would do her best for her son but she would never compromise her principles. That would cause difficulties as she had to work and care for her child, and there were times when she fell very low, but there were also times when good people did their best to help her. And she might have had more, but she was cautious and would not let others now what her circumstances were.
It was when she was doing well, when she was on the point of marrying a good man she met through the Plymouth Brethren, that the father of her child came back into her life. William hadn’t known that there was a child, but when he found out he was ready to be that child’s father.
He wasn’t a bad man, but a fundamentally decent man with a fatal flaw – his love of gambling.
Esther was horribly torn, but she knew that the right thing to do was to marry William, to be a good wife and mother. She was, and she stood by her husband always. Because it was the right thing to do, and because she loved him.
He loved her too, and there were some touching moments as the story of their marriage played out.
Most of all though she loved their son, and she achieved what she set out to do. She raised her son well and she was so proud when he became a soldier ….
The story of how Esther reached that point was wonderful.
It was focused on the reasons for the choices she made, and it did that so very well and with such understanding, but there were gaps. The stories of the conception, of the birth, of stays in the workhouse, of the wedding ….. so much was missing.
But in the end those things weren’t important.
I watched the passage of Esther’s life, I cared, and I understood her journey.
That is what will stay with me.
March 6, 2014
Spotted on Wanda's profile. Free from Gutenberg : http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8157
Classic Serial R4Famous last words: The horse is a dead cert!
#66 TBR Busting 2013
September 22, 2017
What a great read! The dialogue reads well despite the years, and the details of life in London as a servant, single mother and wife are wonderfully depicted.
August 28, 2015
A delightful read. Started off slow but got much better as the story went along. A really good classic!
July 15, 2012
It's hard to believe that this novel caused such a sensation when it was first published in 1894, so much so that it even had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writing letters to the press to defend it against the charges of obscenity that were being levied. By modern standards, the sensationalism is timid, but Moore has woven warnings against drinking and gambling into the story of the life of a young serving girl who becomes pregnant by a young man who has promised her marriage. Needless to say he deserts her for another and she has to struggle through life in service and workhouses to bring up her son before being reunited with her son's father as she is on the point of getting married to another.
For my taste there is far too much concentration on horse-racing, and I feel this slows down the novel's pacing, and to an extent, draws the interest away from the story. Nonetheless, I'm glad I took the time out to read what is, in all truth, very much a novel of its time.
For my taste there is far too much concentration on horse-racing, and I feel this slows down the novel's pacing, and to an extent, draws the interest away from the story. Nonetheless, I'm glad I took the time out to read what is, in all truth, very much a novel of its time.
January 13, 2013
After reading so many books and seeing so many TV series on how the wealthy lived during the late 1800's, it was refreshing to read a book about how the rest of the English society fared during this time. Quite a contrast! And to be a woman in those times was the worst, especially young unmarried mothers. They were not only looked down upon by the men, but by the women of their own class as well as upper class women. I never realized what a big part gambling on horse racing played during this time period. I think the author did an excellent job of defining the difficulties faced by the poor and how they were forced to engage in activities against their ideals just to survive. The only thing I disliked about this book was to what extent the author went in describing horse racing. Other than that, it was well written and I'm glad I read it.
October 20, 2016
I was minded to give this only four stars because I didn't like William's deathbed conversion, and there was just too much detail about the betting, but then I thought, if this book is gripping enough that I can stay awake late into the night reading it, then it's got to be among the best. It was not at all clear what the plot was going to be, there was no false sentiment and no black and white morality. Esther is a wonderfully drawn character, sullen temper and all - I don't think I like her that much, but was desperate for things to go well for her. Don't be put off by this being a Victorian novel - it's a lot more Gissing than Hardy.
October 8, 2010
My favorite book ever!
July 25, 2011
A great novel by naturalist author, George Moore. If you like sad stories like Jude the Obscure, you'll like this. Fast paced and very accessible, and it's a touching story.
May 7, 2017
This was a completely new author for me who I chanced upon only when I joined the Victorians book group here. We first meet Esther Waters when she is just 20 and heading off to take up a situation as a kitchen/scullery maid at a house in the country. She is strong-minded (some call her obstinate) with opinions of her own which she doesn’t give up so easily which leads her into some trouble adjusting when she gets there but she soon settles in. The household (except the lady of the house Mrs Barfield who like Esther is of the Plymouth Brethren) is centred around horse racing and betting is a big part of it, both above and below the stairs. And this as we see, ends up playing a major role in all their lives. Esther soon falls in love with William, the son of the cook Mrs Latch also in service there but there are misunderstandings and she ends up a single mother having to struggle to survive and give her child the best upbringing she can. In this journey we see much of what women in her position had to face, and how shocking the circumstances and risks were that the lives of the children they were bringing up were often exposed to. Meanwhile in Esther’s life, things take another turn with Fred Parsons, a stationer’s assistant entering the scene. He falls in love with her and accepts her knowing her past. But then William too comes into her life once again. What choice she makes and what life holds for her after that make up the rest of the story.
I read this story in serial form with the group and each segment brought with it many surprises, twists, and turns in the plot that I didn’t at all anticipate which made it a very interesting read. At the end, things seem to come full circle for her but some things—particularly the last chapter for me, came across as a little abrupt. Esther’s strong-mindedness and ability to speak her mind does seem unusual for a Victorian heroine, particularly one in her position, but makes her stand out and certainly also comes in handy in some situations she has to face. This was overall a great “discovery” for me and I very much enjoyed reading it. Four and a half stars.
I read this story in serial form with the group and each segment brought with it many surprises, twists, and turns in the plot that I didn’t at all anticipate which made it a very interesting read. At the end, things seem to come full circle for her but some things—particularly the last chapter for me, came across as a little abrupt. Esther’s strong-mindedness and ability to speak her mind does seem unusual for a Victorian heroine, particularly one in her position, but makes her stand out and certainly also comes in handy in some situations she has to face. This was overall a great “discovery” for me and I very much enjoyed reading it. Four and a half stars.
July 11, 2016
There is something special in discovering a novel (and a novelist) of the first order that had completely slipped under the radar. It was in my bookcase but I'd neither put it there nor heard of it. (My wife can take the credit.) Perhaps I ought to be a little ashamed. Not a bit of it. Any knowledge I have ever possessed has been an awareness of my lack of knowledge: the half handful of grains I've acquired against the endless sandy beaches of what there is to know. If I'd been the worthy and diligent student and discovered Esther Waters earlier then I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the treat and surprise of it now.
I knew I was on to something good from page one. There was a big clue on the front cover in the words "Oxford World Classics". It isn't a chain with many weak links. For a hundred pages I'm aware that I'm reading something of considerable social significance. A late Victorian novel that shines a light on the world of the servant without any of the romanticised tosh served up in our own times by Upstairs Downstairs or the forelock tugging, know your place and be grateful Downton Abbey. After page 100 it became clear that it was far more than an important social novel. This is a great work of literature. I was making comparisons with Hardy and Arnold Bennett as I read. In his introduction, David Skilton says that "Esther is certainly not an urban Tess Durbeyfield" and he lists an impressive set of reasons why not. I disagree. There is a parallel and what separates the novels (and indeed the characters) is as interesting as what connects them. As a reader you become peculiarly involved with them both and it is in this level of caring that the richness lies.
I knew I was on to something good from page one. There was a big clue on the front cover in the words "Oxford World Classics". It isn't a chain with many weak links. For a hundred pages I'm aware that I'm reading something of considerable social significance. A late Victorian novel that shines a light on the world of the servant without any of the romanticised tosh served up in our own times by Upstairs Downstairs or the forelock tugging, know your place and be grateful Downton Abbey. After page 100 it became clear that it was far more than an important social novel. This is a great work of literature. I was making comparisons with Hardy and Arnold Bennett as I read. In his introduction, David Skilton says that "Esther is certainly not an urban Tess Durbeyfield" and he lists an impressive set of reasons why not. I disagree. There is a parallel and what separates the novels (and indeed the characters) is as interesting as what connects them. As a reader you become peculiarly involved with them both and it is in this level of caring that the richness lies.
January 23, 2016
I loved all the London sections, especially so much in Chelsea, King's Road, Sydney Street, Onslow Gardens, Brompton Royal Hospital--all in neighborhood where I lived earlier this year. All that aside, I don't think I've read another Victorian novel that describes pregnancy, labor, and birth with such vividness, and then later dying and death. If "realism" is about such common events getting full play in fiction, this is a fine example. I loved the circular narrative structure too and the ending which is surprising in its ordinariness, in the closure which isn't about death or love or unexpected success, but about the quiet joys of aging, companionship, and seeing one's child grow up and flourish, even in small ways. I thought of TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, published only a few years before this novel, and also about a young working-class girl seduced/raped, who ends up with a son. Very different outcomes, however. I'd recommend reading TESS first, then ESTHER!
June 11, 2019
I can't put my finger on why I knew to avoid Moore's books, but something told me they were second rate. I should have listened to that something. ESTHER WATERS is supposed to be Moore's best, and it make his fortune. At this remove, I cannot imagine why. It is didactic, overwrought, predictable, has some good dialog, but with the expected comeuppance followed by the sort of contented ending that comes with surviving the downs of life. A recent BBC radio adaptation improved the ending. Nothing special here. Move along.
March 19, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 - CLassical Serial
By George Moore. Stirring tale of how a servant girl makes her way in Victorian England. Dramatised by Sharon Oakes.
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
By George Moore. Stirring tale of how a servant girl makes her way in Victorian England. Dramatised by Sharon Oakes.
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
March 16, 2017
A very sad dark story of life in England in the 19th century and the battle between the Christians and those who spent their lives in pubs and betting houses. Interesting from an historic perspective, but the characters, Esther Waters, her employers her husband are seldom warm and lovable. I struggled through out of stubbornness with very little enjoyment.
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October 29, 2023I assumed that Esther Waters would be this earnest bit of Victorian stodginess. All misery, no jokes. I was wrong. I mean, it’s miserable, and there’s bugger all jokes (though it’s not entirely absent of a laugh), but it’s also a propulsive page-turner. When we meet the titular heroine, she’s on a train to Woodview, where she will take up a situation - kitchen maid - with the Barfields. She’s escaping a hard life in London, her father's death leading her mother to remarry a hard-drinking, fist-throwing bastard. Esther, known for her fiery disposition, makes few friends at Woodview. But she does get chummy with William, the Barfields’ footman and son of the cook. One indiscretion later and Esther is preggers, out on her ear and back to London where she faces an also pregnant mother and an abusive step-father. From there, it’s about Esther earning enough money to keep herself and her newborn son alive. The plight of the single mother today is terrible; in Victorian England, it was a nightmare, with the threat of workhouses or your child dying of starvation at the hand of a carer paid to look after them. Moore brings this all to life in exacting and horrifying detail. It’s not so much a proto-feminist text — Esther gives up all her agency for her son and later her husband — but there’s a genuine sympathy for the working-class women. What I also found fascinating was all the intricate details around horse racing and, more soberly, the lives brought to ruin by the punt. On both counts, and especially the latter, not much has changed. Moore would still recognise the pageantry of a big race day, but he would be horrified by how gambling has become infinitely more pervasive with the betting apps and wall-to-wall advertising. Terrific novel, highly recommended.
February 11, 2025
Always remember: men lie!!!!
September 5, 2019
The relentless realism of the narrative is underscored by the absence of intensely dramatic scenes. Moore's subject is the crushingly ordinary life of a poor girl whose home life drives her into domestic service. She is seduced and abandoned and powerless, but she is not weak. She plods on with a determination and pragmatism that mean survival. Her world is late 19th-century England. She conceals her pregnancy as long as she can, and then loses her position. She has a little money that sees her through the birth of her child, and then she finds another position in service. Moore leads readers through a world of baby farms, of the crime of poverty. The poor have always been punished for being poor. A decent girl who has a baby outside of marriage might bring shame on an employer's house, so she is dismissed. The supposed morals of the house see no contradiction in dismissing such a girl to the grim fate she will face. Esther makes her choices with the sole aim of her child's well-being, sometimes sacrificing her desires, compromising her faith, making a gamble. An entire world of off- and on-track betting, of public houses, of prostitution and theft, rumbles through Esther's life. She has moments of hope and despair and contentment and love. Her only power is her refusal to give up. The only thing that really matters is getting her child raised and launched. Contemporary readers might feel frustration with Esther, because they fail to see her in her time. The point is that her life has none of the possibilities that a woman now has. It is not a dramatic process. It is a precarious life at every minute, and that is dramatic enough. The book is an unvarnished education.
November 23, 2021
I'd vaguely heard of Esther Waters before but what really made me want to pick up something by George Moore was reading his short story, A Novel in a Nutshell which I really liked. I wasn't prepared, however, for how much I would love this book and the character of Esther.
As we follow her from her first appearance at a train station starting a new job at a country manor where everything is about horses and horse racing, to her dismissal for being pregnant and subsequent downward spiral, we are with her all the way. She is tough and emotional with a quick temper but will do anything for her child and moves from one position to another desperately trying to keep her head afloat in nineteenth century London.
More of the plot would spoil things but I loved the arc the story took and although desperately sad on many occasions there is relief and even humor in some sections. I now have the collected editions of George Moore and am hoping that some of his other novels are as richly rewarding as this one.
As we follow her from her first appearance at a train station starting a new job at a country manor where everything is about horses and horse racing, to her dismissal for being pregnant and subsequent downward spiral, we are with her all the way. She is tough and emotional with a quick temper but will do anything for her child and moves from one position to another desperately trying to keep her head afloat in nineteenth century London.
More of the plot would spoil things but I loved the arc the story took and although desperately sad on many occasions there is relief and even humor in some sections. I now have the collected editions of George Moore and am hoping that some of his other novels are as richly rewarding as this one.
March 10, 2013
Virginia Woolf declared that Esther Waters had "sincerity, shapeliness, style...surpassing seriousness and integrity," but that it was "completely lacking in dramatic power." That final judgment is harsh--here's more of it: "..but because Mr. Moore has not the strength to project Esther from himself [the novel's] virtues collapse and fall about it lack a tent with a broken pole." It's impossible not to compare EW to Tess, and for all its bombast, the latter is the greater novel. Be that as it may, EW is a beautifully conceived and often moving work of realism.
May 2, 2017
The misery in this novel is very depressing to me but seems realistic, because it's not a uniformly darkly painted--there are occasionally a few kind characters. The hero himself is a wicked man in the early years but later shows bits of honesty, logic, and appreciation. Some psychological passages of the heroine are quite interesting.
It is said by some that the author had a naturalist style. In this novel, however, the great vividness and details seem to be put mostly in one thing, horse betting, and to an excessive degree and becomes somewhat boring.
It is said by some that the author had a naturalist style. In this novel, however, the great vividness and details seem to be put mostly in one thing, horse betting, and to an excessive degree and becomes somewhat boring.
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