Red Hair

by Elinor Glyn

An excerpt from the"Branches Park, November 3. I wonder so much if it is amusing to be an adventuress, because that is evidently what I shall become now. I read in a book all about it; it is being nice looking and having nothing to live on, and getting a pleasant time out of life?and I intend to do that! I have certainly nothing to live on, for one cannot count £300 a year; and I am extremely pretty, and I know it quite well, and how to do my hair, and put on my hats, and those things?so, of course, I am an adventuress! I was not intended for this r?le?in fact, Mrs. Carruthers adopted me on purpose to leave me her fortune, as at that time she had quarrelled with her heir, who was bound to get the place. Then she was so inconsequent as not to make a proper will thus it is that this creature gets everything, and I nothing!I am twenty, and up to the week before last, when Mrs. Carruthers got ill and died in one day, I had had a fairly decent time at odd moments when she was in a good temper. There is no use pretending even when people are dead, if one is writing down one's real thoughts. I detested Mrs. Carruthers most of the time. A person whom it was impossible to please. She had no idea of justice, or of anything but her own comfort, and what amount of pleasure other people could contribute to her day. How she came to do anything for me at all was because she had been in love with papa, and when he married poor mamma?a person of no family?and then died, she offered to take me, and bring me up, just to spite mamma, she has often told me. As I was only four I had no say in the matter, and if mamma liked to give me up that was her affair. Mamma's father was a lord, and her mother I don't know who, and they had not worried to get married, so that is how it is poor mamma came to have no relations. After papa was dead, she married an Indian officer and went off to India, and died, too, and I never saw her any more?so there it is; there is not a soul in the world who matters to me, or I to them, so I can't help being an adventuress, and thinking only of myself, can I?Mrs. Carruthers periodically quarrelled with all the neighbors, so beyond frigid calls now and then in a friendly interval, we never saw them much. Several old, worldly ladies used to come and stay, but I liked none of them, and I have no young friends. When it is getting dark, and I am up here alone, I often wonder what it would be like if I had?but I believe I am the kind of cat that would not have got on with them too nicely?so perhaps it is just as well. Only, to have had a pretty?aunt, say?to love one?that might have been nice. Mrs. Carruthers had no feelings like this; "stuff and nonsense," "sentimental rubbish," she would have called them. To get a suitable husband is what she brought me up for, she said, and for the last years had arranged that I should marry her detested heir, Christopher Carruthers, as I should have the money and he the place. He is a diplomat, and lives in Paris, and Russia, and amusing places like that, so he does not often come to England. I have never seen him. He is quite old?over thirty?and has hair turning gray. Now he is master here, and I must leave?unless he proposes to marry me at our meeting this afternoon, which he probably won't do. However, there can be no harm in my making myself look as attractive as possible under the circumstances ..."

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Classic Literature

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

Elinor Sutherland was born in St Helier, Jersey, the younger daughter of Douglas Sutherland (1838–1865), a civil engineer of Scottish descent, and his wife Elinor Saunders (1841–1937).

Her father died when Elinor was two months old and her mother returned to the parental home in Guelph, Ontario, Canada with her two daughters, Lucy Christiana and Elinor.

Back in Canada, Elinor was schooled by her grandmother, Lucy Anne Saunders, in the ways of upper-class society. This early training not only gave her an entrée into aristocratic circles on her return to Europe, but it led to her being considered an authority on style and breeding when she worked in Hollywood in the 1920s.

Her mother remarried a Mr. Kennedy in 1871 and when Elinor was eight years old the family returned to Jersey. When there her schooling continued at home with a succession of governesses.

Elinor married Clayton Louis Glyn (1857–1915), a wealthy but spendthrift landowner, on 27 April 1892. The couple had two daughters, Margot and Juliet, but the marriage apparently foundered on mutual incompatibility although the couple remained together.

As a consequence Elinor had affairs with a succession of British aristocrats and some of her books are supposedly based on her various affairs, such as 'Three Weeks' (1907), allegedly inspired by her affair with Lord Alistair Innes Ker. That affair caused quite a furore and scandalized Edwardian society and one of the scenes in the book had one unnamed poet writing,
Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?

She had began her writing in 1900, starting with a book based on letters to her mother, 'The Visits of Elizabeth'. And thereafter she more or less wrote one book each year to keep the wolf from the door, as her husband was debt-ridden from 1908, and also to keep up her standard of living. After several years of illness her husband died in 1915.

Early in her writing career she was recognised as one of the pioneers of what could be called erotic fiction, although not by modern-day standards, and she coined the use of the world 'It' to mean at the time sex-appeal and she helped to make Clara Bow a star by the use of the sobriquet for her of 'The It Girl'.

On the strength of her reputation and success she moved to Hollywood in 1920 and in 1921 was featured as one of the famous personalities in a Ralph Barton cartoon drawn especially for 'Vanity Fair' magazine.

A number of her books were made into films, most notably 'Beyond the Rocks' (1906), which starred Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson, and she was a scriptwriter for the silent movie industry, working for both MGM and Paramount Pictures in the mid-1920s. In addition she also had a brief career as one of the earliest female directors.

In 1927, by which time she had published 32 novels, she once again appeared in some verse of the day. Songsmith Lorenz Hart immortalised her in his song 'My Heart Stood Still' when he wrote,
I read my Plato
Love, I thought a sin
But since your kiss
I'm reading missus Glyn!

She was so universally popular and well-known in the 1920s that she even made a cameo appearance as herself in the 1928 film 'Show People'.

As well as her novels, she wrote wrote magazine articles for the Hearst Press giving advice on 'how to keep your man' and also giving health and beauty tips. In 1922 she published 'The Elinor Glyn System of Writing', which gives an insight into writing for Hollywood studios and magazine editors.

In later life she moved to the United Kingdom, settling in London. She wrote over 40 books, the last of which was 'The Third Eye' (1940) and she died in Chelsea on 23 September 1943, being survived by her two daughters.

Gerry Wolstenholme
November 2010

Reviews

[Cary Kreitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandmother let out the upper rooms of her home in Virginia to travelers during the depression. When cleaning out her attic we found all sorts of lost and found items left behind by those strangers. Diaries, gloves, dolls, clothing etc. an original copy of this book was in a suitcase of gloves with the owners address scrawled inside. The title on the book was "red hair" so I don't know which title came first.
I love reading this book! I've read it 4 times! It's predictable and yes what was risqué back then isn't so much now but it's such a fun love story and a quick read. Of course my copy of the book makes me love it more than normal:)

[Noël Cades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Hair, aka The Vicissitudes of Evangeline (1905) is a beautifully written, sparkling book.

However, the plot is the equivalent of Elizabeth Bennet marrying Mr Bingley instead of Mr Darcy. If you can stomach that, you'll enjoy this book. Or at least the first half of it.

It seems clear to me that Elinor Glyn changed her mind about the hero about half way through. Initially all the attraction and chemistry is set up between Evangeline and Mr Carruthers:

There was Mr. Carruthers in the hall. A horribly nice-looking, tall man, with a clean-shaven face and features cut out of stone, a square chin, and a nasty twinkle in the corner of his eye. He has a very distinguished look, and that air of never having had to worry for his things to fit; they appear as if they had grown on him. He has a cold, reserved manner, and something commanding and arrogant in it that makes one want to contradict him at once; but his voice is charming—one of that cultivated, refined kind, which sounds as if he spoke a number of languages, and so does not slur his words. I believe this is diplomatic, for some of the old ambassador people had this sort of voice.

If that's not Darcy, I don't know what is.

And when Carruthers and his friend Robert are described next to one another, it's pretty clear who comes out on top (clue: the hero in a Romance is always the tallest and most alpha, not the pretty boy):

Mr. Carruthers is the taller—about one inch. He must be a good deal over six feet, because the other one is very tall, too; but now that one saw them together, Mr. Carruthers's figure appeared stiff and set besides Lord Robert's, and he hasn't got nearly such a little waist. But they really are lovely creatures, both of them, and I don't yet know which I like best.

Really? Because we the reader sure as hell know which fellow we're rooting for. And it ain't the short one with the tiny waist.

Anyway, I've pretty much spoiled the plot but you're better off knowing in advance, or you'll keep hoping and just end up really disillusioned by the end, as I did. I was still hoping by the final chapter for the girl to see some sense.

What makes this a great read is the writing. It dances off the page. Evangeline is a wonderful narrator and the book is highly comedic (and very risqué for its time):

"Mrs. Carruthers said all honeymoons were only another parallel to going to the dentist or being photographed. Necessary evils to be got through for the sake of the results."

"The results!"

"Yes, the nice house and the jewels and the other things."

"Oh! Yes, I suppose she was right, but if one had married Robert one would have had both." She did not say both what—but oh, I knew!

Unmarried girls at that time were not supposed to have any clue about "the other things"!

Lady Ver (Verningham) is also a glorious "frenemy".

So ultimately it's highly enjoyable, but hold onto your heart because you're not going to get the story you want. I guess she ends up a Duchess-to-be, and perhaps she'll end up preferring that to "the other things".

[charlotte ward · Rating 1 out of 5]

Diary style. Didn't enjoy it

[Marie C. Sims · Rating 2 out of 5]

This romance story is from the early 20th century. If you like romances, it's probably worth read, but don't compare it with modern writing styles. I only gave this book a chance bc it's old.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

🖊 My review: In 1905, when this book was published, it was under the title The Vicissitudes of Evangeline. Red Hair is written in diary format and that appealed to me. However, after a couple of chapters, I found Evangeline completely annoying, conceited, and rude. I did not like her. I rooted for the other characters, in fact.
🔥 Dénouement: Tied in a neat bow.

✔️Published in 1905.
💠 Setting: Turn of the Century England.
👁 Point of view: First person; diary format.

◼️ Fun fact: Lots of French and Italian phrases!

🟣 Media form: Kindle version.
🟢 Media form: Project Gutenberg version.
🎥 Media form: Movie version, 1928 silent – with Clara Bow and Lane Chandler .

🔲 Excerpts from the diary of Evangeline:

🔸Mrs. Fairfax is not pretty; she has reddish-gold hair, with brown roots, and a very dark skin, but it is nicely done—the hair, I mean, and perhaps the skin too, as sideways you can see the pink sticking up on it. It must be rather a nuisance to have to do all that, but it is certainly better than looking like Mary Mackintosh. She doesn't balance nicely—bits of her are too long or too short. I do like to see everything in the right place—like Lord Robert's figure. Lady Ver came in just then, and we all went down to dinner. Mrs. Fairfax gushed at her a good deal. Lady Ver does not like her much—she told me in the train—but she was obliged to wire to her to come, as she could not get any one else Mr. Campion liked on so short a notice.

🔸 I have a great deal to write, and yet it is only a few hours since I shut up this book and replaced the key on my bracelet. By a quarter-past three I was making my way through Grosvenor Square.

🔸 "Why do you call me Evangeline?" I said, by way of putting him off. "I never said you might." "Foolish child!—I shall call you what I please. You drive me mad. I don't know what you were born for. Do you always have this effect on people?" "What effect?" I said, to gain time; we had got nearly into Long Acre. "An effect that causes one to lose all discretion. I feel I would give my soul to hold you in my arms."

🔸I do think men are the most horrid creatures—you can't believe what they say or rely upon them for five minutes! Mrs. Carruthers was right; she said, "Evangeline, remember, it is quite difficult enough to trust one's self without trusting a man."

Had enough? Yeah; me, too.

[Patrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sono entusiasta delle ragazzette disegnate dalla Glyn, una diversa dall'altra, ma tutte fresche, piene di vivacità e determinate nella scelta della loro vita sentimentale. E questa Evangeline dai capelli rossi non fa certo eccezione…
Ma quanto cinismo, invece, nel modo in cui l'autrice rappresenta le donne e gli uomini dell'ultimo periodo vittoriano, una società sfatta e amorale sotto la vernice del rigido rispetto delle regole.

[Brittany Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be compared what we would think is controversial today, this book is as plain as a hotel bathroom towel-- white, normal, tame. Let's take into scope that this is 1905 or earlier-- though by how they talk about the fashions and trends as little as they do, no earlier than 1895.

In that way, Evangeline is far beyond what any woman is encouraged or brought up to be-- she is bold and selfish; rude and presuming. She is adopted by a wealthy and unbearable crone and raised to be her successor-- and as a wife, as it turns out to a young relative. She isn't prepared to get married at all yet-- and so, since she is a red haired / green eyed 'adventuress' she gallivants about the country side reveling in freedom, before the innocent eyes of a young heir catch her interest.

It's interesting that Evangeline tries to be very seductive and very frustrating to the men she encounters, because in the end she is very naive, and just as innocent as her eventual paramour. This is how this book was shocking for its time; because not only was it very pointedly written for women, it showed a woman behaving just as she wanted to, telling absolutely everyone she encountered that she planned her own life her own way.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as much fun as the first Glyn I read, but still enjoyable enough to breeze through. It opens with the promise of great salaciousness -- penniless red-haired beauty Evangeline determines to become "an Adventuress" when she is stiffed in her aunt's will. Yay! we think, but alas it turns out that Evangeline doesn't actually know what an adventuress is, and manages not even to get kissed by any of the various men who are entranced by her wicked redheaded wiles, until she ends up properly engaged and ensconced by the side of the guy she fell for in the first chapter. I had hopes she would at least dally with the Rochesterian guy who got her rightful inheritance instead of her, but no.

Glyn was known in her own time for being terribly, terribly scandalous (and I haven't read Three Weeks, in which apparently people actually! have! sex!), but based on the works I've read, her real appeal is that her sharp-eyed young heroines (the books are both in the first person) have very chatty, amusing, natural voices which make them pleasant to spend time with.

[Phair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glyn was supposed to be this controversial writer of women's fiction who was one of the first to write stories that did not shy away from womens' sexuality. She more or less invented the "it girl" and the vamp. Not sure if this is one of her earlier books (1905) but it was a lot more tame than expected. I did, however, have a hard time keeping in mind that the setting was 1905 and not the 1920's- there was a definite vibe of the flapper era when girls wanted to sow a few wild oats themselves so maybe Glyn was a little ahead of her time. Here Evangeline determines to run off and become an adventuress- to live up to her wild red hair and green eyes - but in the end she failed me. While she flouted a few social conventions she had very few real adventures. Even her love choice seemed to be the boring one as far as I was concerned. Eh.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're interested in the Edwardian Era or have an interest in how the romance novel has evolved, this is worth reading. Definitely of it's time and place with attitudes towards class, race and gender that can be grating, but because it is so much of it's time, it provides insights into the upper class society of Edwardian England.

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, entertaining story...

Even though this book is a very read, I enjoyed the time it took. I love curling up with an interesting read. It kept me guessing to the very, very end. It did not end as I predicted, but so much better.

[Samantha Glasser]

Read this book for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17821/...

[AnnE · Rating 3 out of 5]

a reprint of the vicissitudes of Evangeline