Lady Rose's Daughter

by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Lady Rose's Daughter is a captivating novel penned by British author Mary Augusta Ward, also known as Mrs. Humphry Ward. Originally published in 1903, this compelling narrative unfolds against the backdrop of British high society, exploring themes of family, duty, and social class. The story revolves around the life of Lady Rose's daughter, Hyacinth, who is born out of wedlock to the aristocratic Lady Rose and the American financier Stephen Temple. Despite her illegitimate status, Hyacinth is raised with love and care by her mother and grows up to be a woman of intelligence, beauty, and ambition. As Hyacinth comes of age, she navigates the complexities of her heritage and societal expectations, grappling with questions of identity, belonging, and personal fulfillment. Along the way, she encounters a cast of memorable characters, including her formidable grandmother, Lady Henry, and her cousin, Everard, who harbors romantic feelings for her.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Novels

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1903

About the author

Mary Augusta Ward CBE (nee Arnold) was an English novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs. Humphry Ward. Mary Augusta Arnold was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, into a prominent intellectual family of writers and educationalists. Mary was the daughter of Tom Arnold, a professor of literature, and Julia Sorrell. Her uncle was the poet Matthew Arnold and her grandfather Thomas Arnold, the famous headmaster of Rugby School. Her sister Julia married Leonard Huxley, the son of Thomas Huxley, and their sons were Julian and Aldous Huxley. The Arnolds and the Huxleys were an important influence on British intellectual life.Mary's father Tom Arnold was appointed inspector of schools in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and commenced his role on 15 January 1850. Tom Arnold was received into the Roman Catholic Church on 12 January 1856, which made him so unpopular in his job (and with his wife) that he resigned and left for England with his family in July 1856. Mary Arnold had her fifth birthday the month before they left, and had no further connection with Tasmania. Tom Arnold was ratified as chair of English literature at the contemplated Catholic university, Dublin, after some delay. Mary Augusta Ward died in London, England, and was interred at Aldbury in Hertfordshire, near her beloved country home Stocks.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me forever to get past chapter one; I very nearly deleted the rest of the book at that point, but I picked it up again a couple of times when I was out on a run and ran out of audiobooks I preferred. In fact, I re-listened to the beginning of Paradise Lost a few times instead. (That's not really a bad thing--there's a reason I keep Paradise Lost around.)

But I finally got back into it, and am I glad I did. I didn't know anything about Ward, and (having just read the wiki on her) this was probably an advantage; I would have focused on the aspects that she is notorious for rather than the elements that struck me as more progressive in her novel, which were quite a few.

After a somewhat narrow opening (that I was almost tempted to compare to Jane Austen in social scope and in the importance of the social life for her characters), I loved the way the book opened up. Characters shown initially from a particular perspective became more fully developed, and I was impressed by Ward's treatment of complex social situations: she subtly thwarted some of my expectations for the way moral conflicts would be treated. Almost 5 stars.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie Le Breton is the daughter of Lady Rose. More specifically, she is the illegitimate daughter of an extramarital romance, one which severed her mother's relations with her aristocratic family.

Twenty five years later, Lady Rose and Julie's father both since passed away, Julie comes to London to act as companion to an ailing but proud and fiery socialite, Lady Flora Henry.

Lady Henry and a few others are aware of Julie's parentage, which if widely known would cause a scandal and force her to leave the great and good of London society, where she has made a favourable impression.

But then a rift occurs between Julie and Lady Henry, the latter accusing her companion of intrigue, which has some truth in it, though the old curmudgeon is also more than a little jealous of her proteges success.

Julie is dismissed, but she has her supporters, as well as her suitors, most notably a ascetic land manager who will likely inherit a dukedom, and a handsome soldier who is none the less already engaged to someone else.

This novel was a great success in its day, 1903, but I can't quite figure out why? It's generally well written, the characters have peculiar depths to them and certainly grow throughout the story, and a few episodes near the end at Lake Como and the Alps show a real eye for scenic description, whereas most of what preceded is confined to bland interiors.

Yet at just over 450 pages, it took a long time to not really be about anything at all. Madame Le Breton is in some ways a different kind of heroine for her times, but in the final analysis I am not really sure what she amounted to, nor if I particularly liked her.

Though an English writer, it was in America where Lady Rose's Daughter had the success. Why in the name of Sam Hill did the Yanks lap up this watery tale of privileged and indifferent English aristocrats?

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember how I came across the name of Mrs. Humphry Ward. I think it was in conjunction with something I read about Georgette Heyer. Anyway, I read that Lady Rose's Daughter was the bestselling novel in the U.S. for the year 1903. I thought it was really interesting that I had never even heard of the book or the author when it was so popular in its day. The e-book was available for 99 cents, so I figured I'd give it a try. It was quite interesting and enjoyable. I kind of felt like it was a melding of Austen, Dickens, and Alcott. I think I would have liked it even more if I could have felt a little more sympathy for the main character, but the story was definitely compelling.

[Debbie Wenzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well crafted story of the English classes, propriety, the cost of impropriety, and the triumph of long suffering love.
I picked it up because it had been the best selling book of 1903 and I was curious as to what would have sold well 121 years ago. It did not disappoint. I would recommend an e-reader with ready translation as there are frequent phrases in French scattered throughout the book.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read that this was the best-selling novel in the US in 1903. There can't have been a lot of competition. I can't offhand think of a single redeeming feature of this collection of cardboard characters, stock scenery descriptions and implausible plot lines. Pah.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is vintage fiction from a British writer, Mrs. Humphry Ward. (1851-1920) Her books contain strong religious themes, which may be a turn-off to some. Her deft handling of Christian ideas was what made this book worthwhile for me.

Julie LeBreton grew up in France, the illegitimate child of an aristocratic mother. After her parents' deaths she returns to England as a lady's companion. Lady Henry accuses her of being a power-hungry, manipulative vixen. For the first half of the novel you aren't really sure what to believe about her.

Though the novel isn't perfect, I thoroughly enjoyed the non-cardboard characters. Their defects and virtues are shown side by side. None of them are actually lovable so if you want a cute, fun romance this title is not for you. But if you like a book that takes life and faith seriously, this may be of interest.

Julie is an ambitious woman of passion and impulse. Jacob Delafield is a man of faith and conviction who lives a quiet, righteous life. Obviously, they will be at odds with each other. The beauty of the book is how they grow to understand and help one another. I look forward to reading more of Ward's titles. (Many are available for free for Kindle.)

[🐶 Amy Beagle Mom x2 🐶 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but this author certainly isn’t a Dickens nor a Trollope. It moved slowly- especially at the beginning and through the first half of the book.
I doubt I will read any more of Mrs Ward’s works, as there are so many amazing writers and so little time to read, or listen, I’m my case. I listened to this book via the free audiobook from Librivox.

[Michael Percy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this book because it was mentioned in an article on page 2 of the Goulburn Herald on 22 May 1903. I blogged about the article, which features my home town of Gunning, in October last year. It was the number one novel in the Publishers Weekly bestseller list in the United States for 1903. I understand that Mrs Humphrey Ward, as her use of her husband's name suggests, was an anti-suffragette. That the novel smacks of all things conservative does not take away from the brilliance of her work. I had some concerns over anachronisms in the novel, the plot clearly takes place after 1859, but is still regarded as being in the mid-nineteenth century by the characters, yet electric lights appeared in several scenes. Clearly the railway was a going concern. But after some research, I found that Punch magazine, which gets a number of guernseys in the novel, features the use of electric lights in London houses from as early as 1848 (Punch 1848, Vol. 15, p. 239), not to mention a satirical critique of electric lights (written by "a gas contractor"). Other reviewers have referred to Mrs Ward's "cardboard characters", and that may be true if one views the work as clichéd. However, one must remember that the book was written in 1903, over one hundred years before Downton Abbey, so Mrs Ward may be forgiven for being at the forefront of the re-imagining of Jane Austen in a mid-nineteenth century setting. If I am to take the background of the author into account, the novel is a victory for women who achieve success - when defined as social status and wealth - through their husbands, while at the same time winning a moral victory over the Sins of the Mother (a re-imagining of the proverbial). The pace of the novel was quite brisk, and I was captivated until the final forty or so pages, when the plot unfolds "like a long, slow accident" (Something for Kate's Stunt Show played over and over in my head as I read this part). The conclusion moved me and left me rather perplexed. It made be glad not to be a woman (in the Victorian sense of the word). And Mrs Humphrey Ward, brilliant as I find her work, in my imagination smiles smugly like a Liberal party member passing a lump of coal around parliament as history not only passes her by but would make her look silly if anyone else remembered her. But do read it - it is an excellent novel, even if the entire package serves as a caution for those who suffer from smug assuredness.

[Midori · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big publishing success for the year 1903, Lady Rose’s Daughter is a wonderful fin de siècle novel that depicts the decadence, the little hypocrisies and intrigues, of the busy aristocratic salons in London and the yearning for spiritual renaissance within the clearly delimited familiar British environment, abroad. An outcast of the British aristocracy, Julie Le Breton, who enjoyed a great social success as companion of a dowager duchess gets ousted from her temporary home when she is caught intriguing the promotion of the man she loves, Captain Wrackworth. In a whirl of passion, she flies to Paris to have a few days with him before he exits from her life for ever. She is prevented, however, by the stern man who, in turn, loves her and has repeatedly proposed her, Jacob Delafield who ushers her back to London to see her dying grandfather. The reconciliation of the two relatives with a solemn promise of a union with Delafield and the separation of the two lovers causes a mental and physical break down of the heroine. Julie first goes to Italy where she finds peace through calmness and friends to sustain her and then to Switzerland where she discovers peace through struggle and a devoted husband to soothe her.
At a crossroad with Wilde’s The ideal husband and Foster’s A Room with a View and A Passage to India, Lady Rose’s Daughter presumes a memorable description of a tempestuous Channel crossing reflecting the mood of its two passengers and poetic scenic descriptions of Italy and Switzerland as one dreams them to be.

[Issicratea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lady Rose’s Daughter (1903), now sunk deep in undeserved readerly oblivion, was an international bestseller in its day, rapidly adapted as a Broadway play and later (1920) a silent film. It was likely regarded as somewhat risqué in its day, given the protagonist’s illegitimacy and her rebellious and somewhat ambiguous character. I loved it; it confirmed my view that Mary Augusta Ward is an excellent and underrated novelist, as well as an interesting historical figure. (She was a pioneering social reformer, working with the London poor, and a campaigner for women’s higher education—though also, rather less edifyingly, a leader of the women’s anti-suffrage movement.)

The central character, Julie Le Breton, is apparently loosely based on an eighteenth-century French salonnière, Julie de Lespinasse, though to judge from what I can find on the latter on the web, Ward’s novel departs from this historical base after its long and absorbing opening sequence. Julie is an original and complex character: intelligent, manipulative, calculating for the most part, though impulsive on occasion, touchingly loyal to the memory of her bohemian rebel parents and sharing some—though not all—of their counter-cultural courage. She is paired with two interesting male love-interest figures: the dashing young soldier Harry Warkworth, with whom she feels an intuitive affinity, as a fellow social outsider, and aristocratic tortured intellectual Jacob Delafield, whose courtship she instinctively shuns. (Ward does tortured intellectuals very well, having probably known a few herself; she was related to the Arnolds and the Huxleys.)

Beyond the triangle, Ward arrays an enjoyable cast of supporting characters: Julie’s ageing, embittered though still charismatic employer, Lady Henry; her loyal, warm, flaky, slightly star-struck friend, Evelyn Crowborough (whose flakiness may be tactically assumed—I couldn’t quite make my mind up); and (a personal favourite) the watchful, wry man-of-the-world diplomat Sir Wilfrid Bury, through whose eyes we observe the initial long sweep of scenes. Just returned from a long stint in Tehran, Sir Wilfrid brings a whiff of the outside world into the closed world of London salons in which the first half of the novel is situated, as does Warkworth, with his heroic military past in India and the ‘scramble for Africa’ mission to which he aspires. Empire is everywhere in the novel, though it is difficult to ascertain Ward’s attitude to Britain’s imperial past and present from the novel. It seems somewhat equivocal, as do many things in this sophisticated and faintly oblique narrative, which deserves to be much better known

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book over 120 years after it was published is interesting. I've read many schoolgirl books from this era, but few popular novels for adults and fewer by women. Mrs. Ward's books are mentioned in many books I have read so, due to a recent NYT article, I decided to pick this one up free on Amazon. Totally worth the money not spent. It's pretty preachy by today's standards, but apparently not by the standards of 1903. It's fairly interesting in the way an illegitimate birth of the protagonist is treated and I also found it interesting in the almost (gasp) socialist leanings of some characters, although ultimately one caves to his duty to accept a baronetcy. Life was so tough. On the other hand its a typical good woman almost makes tragic mistake, but is saved in the nick of time from ruining her life. We also have a few moments where we fear for a characters life as they lay wanly wasting away due to a dreadful shock. Might be more than one fainting scene, But truly, it is one of the few books of its ilk that even acknowledges that poor folk might want or even (gasp again) deserve some of the security and comforts of the upperclasses. Would I recommend this to many people? No, but I would recommend it to those who might like a best selling novel by the foremost Eminent Victorian Lady Author.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how to rate this book. Ratings differ within categories, in my opinions, than across categories. This is a book by a Victorian English woman. She is a good writer. She also has an outlook on life much different than many writers today. Also, style of writing and verbosity have much changed.
All that said, of its type, it is excellent. Illegitimate birth with a life deprived of family or position, eventually arriving full circle. It is an excellent peek in the beliefs and lives of the English upper-class of the time. It is not necessarily a kind time. It is lush with friendships made or lost based on class and position as often as not.
It is a long book, and needs an investment of time, but is worth it for the story, good writing, and setting. (I only took so long to read it because I had to return it to the library, and it is on a long wait list)

[Allyson McGill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1903, this book was the best seller. Very similar to Henry James novels. If you like Victorian/Edwardian novels, and you're interested in unusual female protagonist, you might want to check it out.

[anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful forgotten page turner/love story. my real rating is 4.5 stars.