Tuesdays Tomes: Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett plus full length 1936 movie

Tuesdays Tomes is a weekly book review of free on-line vintage books.

Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

When I was a kid I used to love to watch Million Dollar Movies. I especially loved the old black and white movies, including Little Lord Fauntleroy-it was like a boy Shirley Temple movie! So when I came across Little Lord Fauntleroy at Librivox and saw that it was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett (I just love The Secret Garden) why I couldn’t resist.

Cedric Error is a little American boy, orphaned young by the death of his British-born father but growing up happily with his mother, who he calls Dearest. He has many friends in his New York City neighborhood-including the local grocer ---as well as all the boys around to play with.

Sudden change comes when a lawyer shows up one day…a British lawyer. Young Cedric’s late father was the third son of the Earl of Dorincourt and now with the death of his father’s two older brothers-both without heirs- Cedric finds himself the Earl in waiting….with the title Lord Fauntleroy. His Grandfather wants him to return with the lawyer immediately. Never reconciled to his son’s marriage to an American, he grudgingly “allows” her to come with her son but she must live in the Lodge alone and not reside in the main house with him and Lord Fauntleroy. She agrees. This is an interesting point-she agrees because she feels the advantages for her son and because she believes her late deeply loved husband would have wanted it- but would he?

The Earl is a grumpy old aristocrat-arrogant and selfish. He likes young Cedric because he is polite and handsome.

“What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving about the handsome …little face.”

He is totally taken by those famous long curls! (more about that later). As he gets to know the sweet, generous hearted boy he comes to love him.

Yes, there’s are a few anxious moments-another heir shows up!- but the book is really about the relationship between the Grandfather and little Cedric and how the love of a little boy can change anyone.

You can download the free audio-book with a lovely reading by Susan Umpleby here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Cedric’s black velvet suit with large white collar and his beautiful curls became a smash hit-a fashion fad favorite for little boys in America (and even in Europe)-a fad that lasted from the publication of the book in 1886 (originally in serial form in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1885) until the beginning of the 20^th century. Now here’s what I think is the funniest part of this whole fashion fad for a style that is definitely odd to us today-Ms. Burnett patterned little Cedric’s look on that of her own sons. She made them little velvet suits (yes, she was a sewer!) and she curled their hair every day!

My very own Million Dollar Movies! You can watch that lovely 1936 film right here…isn’t You-Tube amazing!

Tuesdays Tomes: The Riddle of the Frozen Flames by Mary and Thomas Hanshew

Tuesday Tomes is a weekly book review of free on-line vintage books.

Illustration from the original edition

The Riddle of the Frozen Flame by Mary E. Hanshew and Thomas Hanshew

This full length novel features Cleek, the Man of a Thousand Faces-former master criminal and now the genius detective of Scotland Yard-in an adventure that ranges from bank robberies to gold smuggling to murder on the Fens.

In this 1920 novel, co-written by Thomas Hanshew and wife, Mary E. Hanshew (I think she finished the novel after his death in 1914), two of the usual characters are here: Mr. Narkom of Scotland Yard and Cleek’s boss and Dobbins, Cleek’s young assistant but sadly missing is Miss Elsa-she is only mentioned and referred to but not part of the story. (I really like Miss Elsa and missed her here…but we do get a hint that matrimony may be in her future (with Cleek, of course.)

Sir Nigel Merriton, a decorated soldier, returns from India to the ancestral home, Merriton Towers, following the inexplicable disappearance of his uncle. The house is quite old and not at all modernized and has been in the care of his uncle’s butler for the past few years. Sir Nigel feels it’s quite the proper place for ghosts!

That first night, having difficulty sleeping (the old Victorian four-poster is none too comfortable) he rises and having a cigarette, looks out the window.

“His eyes saw all of a sudden a light prick out like a tiny flame, low down on the very edge of the Fens. One light, two, three, and then a very host of them flashed out…What on earth--? But even as his lips formed the unspoken exclamation came yet another light to join the others dancing and twinkling and flickering out there across the gloomy marshlands.”

What are these? He soon learns that they are the Frozen Flames-and that anyone walking out on the marshes at night never returns!

Poor Sir Nigel-his homecoming is not as pleasant as he expected. A houseguest disappears on the marshes and then a servant and finally Nigel is driven to contacting Scotland Yard, asking for help from Cleek to work out the mystery of what has really happened to all these people on the Fens.

The New York Times review from June 6, 1920 states,” “The Riddle of the Frozen Flame” is a cleverly conceived tale that will idle away an hour most pleasantly.” I totally agree!

You can find my review of the absolutely wonderful first Cleek tale and other Cleek short stories here.

You can download this free audio-book, fabulously read by Ruth Golding, here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Tuesdays Tomes: The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers

Happy New Year! Welcome to Tuesdays Tomes 2011-a weekly book review of a vintage book available free on-line.

The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers

Could I resist a book entitled “The Agony Column”? Can you?

Mr. Geoffrey West, an American in London in the hot summer of 1914, has breakfast every morning at the Carlton Hote-strawberries and a delighted perusal of the Daily Mail’s “agony column” personals.

“MY LADY sleeps. She of raven stresses. Corner seat from Victoria, Wednesday night. Carried program. Gentleman answering inquiry desires acquaintance. Reply here. LE ROI”

WATERLOO: Wed. ll:53 train. Lady who left in taxi and waved, care to know gent, gray coat?—SINCERE

Ah-and this could be a tweet…”—loveu dearly; wantocu; missu—“ Well, at ten cents a word…

One morning he looks up from his Daily Mail as a lovely young American and her father enter. Offered those miraculous end-of-season strawberries, she defiantly states-absolutely not.

“I hate them! Grapefruit, please.”

Mr. West loudly tells the waiter to bring him a second dish...it works, she looks at him.

He keeps looking over..he sees she too is reading the Daily Mail Agony Column…she reads one to her father…he calls it Bosh - she thinks its quite nice.

He can’t stop thinking about her. Does he dare write a note to the Daily Mail? Should he?...would she answer?... Dear Miss Grapefruit…

This book is just full of surprising twists and turns and is quite as delightful as its title. Added joy-it gives an oblique look at London right up to the eve of WWI.

Read by peac, you can download this free audio-book here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Could Mr. West have looked this snappy?

Would one of these dresses been appropriate for breakfast at the Carlton?

I can’t see Miss Grapefruit with a fur muff but I do like the dress and those hats!

Tuesdays Tomes: Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Tuesdays Tomes is a weekly book review of mainly vintage books.

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Its time for some Gothic fun!

Beautiful, sweet, lonely Laura remembers a terrible dream from her childhood…she was just six years old and awoke to find a beautiful woman in her room. She spoke gently to Laura and lay down beside her. Laura fell back to sleep only to be violently awoken-screaming- by the feeling of two sharp pricks in her chest. Her nursemaid ran in-no marks were found on Laura and there was definitely no sign of any nocturnal visitor.

Years pass. One day a young woman and her mother, traveling near the Schloss where Laura and her father live, have a carriage accident. The daughter is shook up, ill and the mother must continue her journey…the daughter comes to stay at the Schloss for a few weeks to recuperate. The daughter’s name is Carmilla.

This is a fun read…written in 1872 (years before Bram Stokers famous book), it is psychological mystery rather than horror. Who is moody Carmilla? How does Laura feel about her new friend?

Jan asked in her comment last week, how do I find these books? I just troll through Librivox…I do download and listen to a lot of books. I don’t always finish them-I may find the story boring or the reader doesn’t suit me-but there are always lots more ready and waiting for me to discover. I love the different sensibility of these vintage tales and the different society that produced them.

Take this week’s book-now I confess I thoroughly enjoy watching Vampire Diaries on Tuesdays (lucky for me-its DH’s bridge night ) and here’s an interesting question: why is popular culture of the late 19^th century and the late 20^th/ early 21^st century fascinated by the same idea?)

Read by the always wonderful Elizabeth Klett, you can download this free audiobook here or the free e-book in pdf. or kindle format here.

Not in the mood to read…well, you can watch Carmilla here…I’ll get you started.