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Little Ottleys #3
Love at Second Sight
Love at Second Sight (1916) is a novel by Ada Leverson. Having established herself as a journalist and short story writer, Leverson published her debut novel in 1907 to moderate acclaim. Entertaining and effortlessly witty, Leverson’s prose paints a stunning portrait of the Edwardian era, a time when hope and relative peace proved prosperous for many. Often compared to her close friend Oscar Wilde, Leverson, a pioneering Jewish woman, remains a unique and refreshing voice in English literature. Love at Second Sight is the third installment in her Little Ottleys trilogy, a series of novels exploring the romantic lives of a hilariously diverse group of friends. Edith and Bruce Ottley seem to have it all—a charming flat, a healthy child, and a group of entertaining friends. Although they are far from perfect—Bruce can be jealous and quite the hypochondriac at times—their marriage remains strong and their home remains a place of refuge to their frequently lovelorn comrades. During the First World War, the Ottleys play host to the mysterious Madame Frabelle, who exercises a strange power over their home. When an old flame of Edith’s unexpectedly returns from the war with a serious injury, she finds herself less and less willing to put up with Bruce’s tiresome eccentricities. Edith and Bruce do their best to make themselves hospitable while defending their home against the hostilities of love, but the hearts and minds of their eclectic guests prove difficult to assuage. Love at Second Sight is a humorous tale of romance and desire from Ada Leverson, an underappreciated novelist of the Edwardian era.
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About the author
Ada Leverson
20 books17 followersAda Leverson (1862-1933), the devoted friend of Oscar Wilde (who called her the wittiest woman in the world), wrote six timeless novels, each a classic comedy of manners. Love’s Shadow, the first in the trilogy The Little Ottleys, is the perfect examples of her wit and style: no other English novelist has explored the world of marriage and married life with such feeling for its mysteries and absurdities.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 15, 2021
"Love at Second Sight is
* an emotion stirred by memories of love gone by.
* re-uniting with and old friend or sweetheart.
* perhaps a youthful romance that never blossomed but remained a sweet mystery for many years.
Then as the Universe moves you see that person again,
then the beauty of the current day and the wonderful memories of the past turn to LOVE."
(Source: Urban Dictionary)
Love at Second Sight, the third of the Little Ottleys Series returns to the style of the first—it is a witty, tongue-in-cheek, Edwardian comedy of manners.
By the third book, the First World War has begun. Bruce and Edith Ottley continue to take central role. Their two children are now ten and seven, and their marriage has not improved. How could it? Bruce remains the cocksure, supercilious hypochondriac he was at the start. Edith has had an awakening, but at the same time she remains, as always, kind and forgiving ! To see how Edith’s situation changes, and it does change, you must read the three books to the very end.
Characters of the first two novels return and additional ones are added. Alymer Ross goes off to the war. Madame Frabelle comes to stay with the Ottleys, having first been introduced to them by the confused Lady Conroy. Dulcie Clay serves as a nurse and later as secretary, as a “walking memorandum” to the perpetually forgetful, befuddled, and muddled Lady Conroy. A conversation with Lady Conroy twists in and out, circles and contradicts at the end that stated at the start. Following Lady Conroy’s thinking is terribly amusing and will not soon be forgotten.
The writing is clever, witty and funny. Oscar Wilde called Ada Leverson the “wittiest woman in the world” for a reason!
I enjoyed the humor, but the plot line is tied up w-a-y to neat and sweet for me. I want more realism; I want more to go wrong! As I mentioned in the spoiler up above, I wish Edith had been braver and more willing to . There are many characters in the story. Their backstories are summarized and told to us. For these reasons I do not give the book more stars. In addition, I think the three books should have been tightened and put into one volume.
Free download at Librivox, here: https://librivox.org/love-at-second-s...
Read by the talented reader / actress Helen Taylor! Her performance here is just as wonderful as in the first two. There is in the third quite a bit untranslated French. The French is simple and not hard to understand if a person has a rudimentary knowledge of the language. As in the two earlier books, I have given the narration five stars. The narration is simply marvelous, as good as in the best audiobooks one must purchase, and the download is totally free!
*******************************
The books of the Little Ottleys Series are to be read in the following order:
1.Love's Shadow 3 stars
2.Tenterhooks 3 stars
3.Love at Second Sight 3 stars
* an emotion stirred by memories of love gone by.
* re-uniting with and old friend or sweetheart.
* perhaps a youthful romance that never blossomed but remained a sweet mystery for many years.
Then as the Universe moves you see that person again,
then the beauty of the current day and the wonderful memories of the past turn to LOVE."
(Source: Urban Dictionary)
Love at Second Sight, the third of the Little Ottleys Series returns to the style of the first—it is a witty, tongue-in-cheek, Edwardian comedy of manners.
By the third book, the First World War has begun. Bruce and Edith Ottley continue to take central role. Their two children are now ten and seven, and their marriage has not improved. How could it? Bruce remains the cocksure, supercilious hypochondriac he was at the start. Edith has had an awakening, but at the same time she remains, as always, kind and forgiving ! To see how Edith’s situation changes, and it does change, you must read the three books to the very end.
Characters of the first two novels return and additional ones are added. Alymer Ross goes off to the war. Madame Frabelle comes to stay with the Ottleys, having first been introduced to them by the confused Lady Conroy. Dulcie Clay serves as a nurse and later as secretary, as a “walking memorandum” to the perpetually forgetful, befuddled, and muddled Lady Conroy. A conversation with Lady Conroy twists in and out, circles and contradicts at the end that stated at the start. Following Lady Conroy’s thinking is terribly amusing and will not soon be forgotten.
The writing is clever, witty and funny. Oscar Wilde called Ada Leverson the “wittiest woman in the world” for a reason!
I enjoyed the humor, but the plot line is tied up w-a-y to neat and sweet for me. I want more realism; I want more to go wrong! As I mentioned in the spoiler up above, I wish Edith had been braver and more willing to . There are many characters in the story. Their backstories are summarized and told to us. For these reasons I do not give the book more stars. In addition, I think the three books should have been tightened and put into one volume.
Free download at Librivox, here: https://librivox.org/love-at-second-s...
Read by the talented reader / actress Helen Taylor! Her performance here is just as wonderful as in the first two. There is in the third quite a bit untranslated French. The French is simple and not hard to understand if a person has a rudimentary knowledge of the language. As in the two earlier books, I have given the narration five stars. The narration is simply marvelous, as good as in the best audiobooks one must purchase, and the download is totally free!
*******************************
The books of the Little Ottleys Series are to be read in the following order:
1.Love's Shadow 3 stars
2.Tenterhooks 3 stars
3.Love at Second Sight 3 stars
May 4, 2021
A very satisfactory conclusion to the whole story.
July 26, 2022
Deel 3 van de trilogie, en deze was echt vervelend en vergezocht, nix geestigs meer aan. Wel weer mooi voorgelezen.
August 29, 2018
Such a satisfying conclusion to the "Little Ottleys" series, complete with a realistic happy ending.
Thanks so much to Helen Taylor for another entertaining and brilliantly narrated audiobook, free from librivox.org. The free ebook is available on gutenberg.org and in the Kindle store.
Thanks so much to Helen Taylor for another entertaining and brilliantly narrated audiobook, free from librivox.org. The free ebook is available on gutenberg.org and in the Kindle store.
October 2, 2008
These books are great and funny. They follow the lives of a wife, her husband, their child(ren?), and people they interact with. The husband always complains about his health and blames every little thing on the wife, and she takes it all in stride, pretending he's right and blahblah, though she hardly knows what he's going on about. She's learned to ignore him for the most part.
I read the books (there's three) in ebook form awhile ago (probably a year or so; yeah, such a long time ago. pft), so I don't remember if it's one or two children the couple have. I know there was a boy...and I think a girl as well. But that's hardly important anyway. :S
I won't give the individual happenings of the books away, but I do recommend you read them. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
I read the books (there's three) in ebook form awhile ago (probably a year or so; yeah, such a long time ago. pft), so I don't remember if it's one or two children the couple have. I know there was a boy...and I think a girl as well. But that's hardly important anyway. :S
I won't give the individual happenings of the books away, but I do recommend you read them. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
February 22, 2021
My hardcore fans (yes, both of you!) may remember that two years ago I was unable to review Birds of Paradise because I mislaid it and therefore couldn’t read it. (It turned up in the end, in a knapsack I never use.) I was eager to rectify my mistake by reading Ada Leverson’s 1916 offering, especially as this was her last novel.
Love at Second Sight is the last book in the Little Ottleys trilogy. Although I didn’t read the first two, it was easy to see what must have happened in them—in book one, the main character Edith must have married her husband, and then in the second one both Edith and her husband fall in love with other people but remain together thanks to Edith’s bloody-minded loyalty.
As this novel opens, Edith’s family has a guest in the house, and it’s unclear who she is, why she’s come to stay, and how long she plans to be there. But Madame Frabelle exercises a strange fascination over all of them. This book is terribly amusing and I’m not even going to tell you what happens, other than it’s a scream. The protagonist is thinking funny things about other people all the time but since she’s kind and fairly quiet, people don’t realize that she’s amusing and smart. The husband seems like the most annoying person on earth, and he must be drawn from life because how could you invent a person that annoying?
This is one of the rare books that has a contemporary setting during World War I. The husband was not called up because of a “neurotic heart,” which seems to be like PTSD. Edith’s love interest from the previous book returns home from the war, wounded. This novel’s realism allowed me to see all kinds of period details. For example, when the characters need to look up train timetables, they use things called the ABC and Bradshaw, which must be the apps they had on their phones at that time. Edith also had an Italian composer best friend who I thought might be based on Puccini since (according to Wikipedia) he and Ada Leverson were great pals.
I really was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen, and guess what?
Ada Leverson’s Wikipedia page says cattily that after this novel, she worked on ever-smaller projects. Just like me!
Love at Second Sight is the last book in the Little Ottleys trilogy. Although I didn’t read the first two, it was easy to see what must have happened in them—in book one, the main character Edith must have married her husband, and then in the second one both Edith and her husband fall in love with other people but remain together thanks to Edith’s bloody-minded loyalty.
As this novel opens, Edith’s family has a guest in the house, and it’s unclear who she is, why she’s come to stay, and how long she plans to be there. But Madame Frabelle exercises a strange fascination over all of them. This book is terribly amusing and I’m not even going to tell you what happens, other than it’s a scream. The protagonist is thinking funny things about other people all the time but since she’s kind and fairly quiet, people don’t realize that she’s amusing and smart. The husband seems like the most annoying person on earth, and he must be drawn from life because how could you invent a person that annoying?
This is one of the rare books that has a contemporary setting during World War I. The husband was not called up because of a “neurotic heart,” which seems to be like PTSD. Edith’s love interest from the previous book returns home from the war, wounded. This novel’s realism allowed me to see all kinds of period details. For example, when the characters need to look up train timetables, they use things called the ABC and Bradshaw, which must be the apps they had on their phones at that time. Edith also had an Italian composer best friend who I thought might be based on Puccini since (according to Wikipedia) he and Ada Leverson were great pals.
I really was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen, and guess what?
Ada Leverson’s Wikipedia page says cattily that after this novel, she worked on ever-smaller projects. Just like me!
February 9, 2026
Ich hatte mir von diesem Buch ehrlich gesagt etwas mehr erhofft. Das Thema betrifft ja doch viele Ehen und ich erwartete daher einen intensiven Einblick in beide Perspektiven, der bestimmte Handlungen oder Entscheidungen vielleicht nachvollziehbarer erscheinen lässt.
Stattdessen blieb ich beim Lesen ziemlich auf Distanz. Die Figuren und ihre Entscheidungen wirkten auf mich oft eher moralisch fragwürdig als wirklich berührend, und ich konnte ihre Gefühle nur schwer nachempfinden.
Stattdessen blieb ich beim Lesen ziemlich auf Distanz. Die Figuren und ihre Entscheidungen wirkten auf mich oft eher moralisch fragwürdig als wirklich berührend, und ich konnte ihre Gefühle nur schwer nachempfinden.
March 17, 2021
This trilogy started out as a rather witty comedy, then took a dramatic turn during the second book. Overall the first book was my favorite, but the whole series is still very good. I am going to miss these characters, and must visit them again.
March 9, 2020
The third novel in Ada Leverson's "Little Ottleys" trilogy. It is very enjoyable read; and everything falls into place in a very satisfactory way. Delightful!
May 11, 2020
More than 100 years old and funny and fun and fascinating!
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March 10, 2022Its happy end but i don't lile it.Funny novel.But i don't love another parte in marriag way. All that about war how can mix the card.And love fight the war and still while.
September 20, 2016
Three years have passed since Bruce and Edith's marriage was in danger of collapse. Thanks to Edith's forgiving and patient ways they have put their difficulties behind them and their lives seem on in good period after First World War xD. This is my conclusion of the best trilogy with humor and some romance
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2013
Funny and well written. Just what I needed right now. Read them in order though.
1. Love's Shadow
2. Tenterhooks
3. Love at Second Sight
Otherwise known as The Little Ottleys. Highly recommended.
1. Love's Shadow
2. Tenterhooks
3. Love at Second Sight
Otherwise known as The Little Ottleys. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2014
I loved the middle book of the Little Ottley series.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews