Amelia in Reading the Classics

Jul 11, 2011 Henry Avila rated it liked it · review of another edition

Amelia Harris a beautiful rich girl meets a handsome poor boy our William Booth, naturally they fall madly in love. However her mother a well -to- do widow of course doesn't like the match (conflict needed to makes it interesting).She considers Booth, an officer in the British Army a fortune hunter, people are so distrustful. Amelia nevertheless elopes with William anyway. Resulting no surprise, in being cut off by Mrs. Harris; delighting her evil sister and rival Betty, the young couple live da Amelia Harris a beautiful rich girl meets a handsome poor boy our William Booth, naturally they fall madly in love. However her mother a well -to- do widow of course doesn't like the match (conflict needed to makes it interesting).She considers Booth, an officer in the British Army a fortune hunter, people are so distrustful. Amelia nevertheless elopes with William anyway. Resulting no surprise, in being cut off by Mrs. Harris; delighting her evil sister and rival Betty, the young couple live day to day with little money.Booth while trying to be a good Samaritan, helping a man in a street brawl, a monumental mistake... he is arrested and sent to prison by the Justice of Peace Thrasher, an appropriate name for his character.There William finds an old acquaintance Miss Mathews, from his home town shockingly is there for murder; but by luck the victim recovers ( an unfaithful lover the dog). The two become more than good friends, further complicating the life of our weak hero.Receiving money for bail by some admirer of Miss Mathews also gets the soldier Booth out of imprisonment too.Then William leaves London with his army unit on the ship Lovely Peggy, a misnomer if there ever was one . A savage storm naturally sinks the unlucky vessel no dull story here and Booth is rescued just in time. He fights bravely in Gibraltar, during the Spanish siege though wounded twice, but surviving with the aid of faithful Amelia , the poor Captain arrives back in England without a job since with the war over, he's not wanted in the military. Financially desperate William a gambler gets into a crooked card game and loses 50 pounds, soon afterwards he's back in jail for nonpayment of debts...ouch (the third time)Booth a good man no charlatan yet naive , is always getting into trouble, including a duel. The couple has a friend Dr.Harrison, a clergyman who helps them still everything looks bleak a sick fellow inmate, in danger of expiring he thinks, confesses to Dr. Harrison and Booth that Amelia's sister Betty has absconded with her inheritance, in a conspiracy with him and a lawyer (imagine a crooked attorney!) , when their mother succumbs, yet can they prove it? This is the huge question, the answer well you will have to read the book to find out. A lively , entertaining novel written by a talented writer that knew the world and all its encompassing pitfalls...you have to keep a wary eye open. ...more

108 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2014 ~Calyre~ rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books, british-literature, read-in-2014

La plus noire encre du destin était pour moi,
Et quand il a écrit mon nom, il a fait un pâté.

Si ton ennemi a faim, donne-lui à manger; s'il a soif, donne-lui à boire: ne rendant point le mal pour le mal, ni injure pour injure, mais, au contraire, bénissant... ...more

1 like · Like · see review