The Maid of Buttermere (Paperback, 2nd edition)

This novel, like others of Bragg's, takes place in the Cumberland country of England, circa 1802, at which time bounder meets beauty, perhaps too late to mend his profligate ways. Alexander Augustus Hope, M.P. Army colonel, aristocrat, arrives in the rustic Lake Country, boasting of wealth and title and bent on seduction. First it's a peasant lass, then a maidservant, then (sights set a bit higher) the daughter of local gentry - a girl rich and pretty but hopelessly bourgeois - to whom Hope proposes marriage. But before said can be accomplished, he's off to neighboring Buttermere, where Mary Robinson, the innkeeper's daughter, famed for her beauty (sung of by Cole-ridge and Wordsworth) and sterling character, is known as "The Beauty of Buttermere." Hope tumbles, so does she, and this time marriage does transpire - shortly thereafter, however, the truth becomes known: Hope is nothing but an imposter, led on by an evil mentor with whom he once sat in jail. Moreover, Hope - actual name, John Hatfield - is a bigamist, philanderer, forger, and commoner, whose ex-wives and abandoned children abound, existing in quiet, ruined misery. Is this to be "Beauty" Mary's fate as well? Slow and complex, densely literary but engaging, cleverly adapted from a true tale, this historical romance is obviously not for all but rather for the discerning - and patient - aficionado. (Kirkus Reviews)

Melvyn Bragg's highly acclaimed, bestselling historical novel, the story behind one of the 19th century's greatest scandals. 'This is the story of an impostor and bigamist, a self-styled Colonel Hope, who travels to the North, where eventually he marries "The Maid of Buttermere", a young woman whose natural beauty inspired the dreams and confirmed the theories of various early nineteenth-century writers . . . It is a fine story . . . This is historical fiction with a human face' Peter Ackroyd, The Times 'A skilled, ornate and convincing examination of a nineteenth-century scandal in Bragg's own Cumbria' Thomas Keneally 'A triumph . . . I am overwhelmingly impressed' Beryl Bainbridge 'Bragg achieves the most difficult of feats, the telling of the changing perceptions and ideals of a radical age . . . He is also as powerful as ever in his description of nature' Sunday Times

General

Imprint:	Sceptre
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	1993
Authors:	Melvyn Bragg
Dimensions:	196 x 130 x 34mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	464
Edition:	2nd edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-340-42373-8
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction
LSN:	0-340-42373-0
Barcode:	9780340423738

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