Showing results for "Slow Burn" in Classics

Triangular relationships, child abuse both emotional and physical, the profanity frequently lurking beneath social and religious respectability, the conflicts between piety and sincerity - these challenging themes are all engrossingly covered in Jane Eyre. It is no wonder that, as a woman writing in Victorian England, Charlotte Bronte felt the need to publish her debut novel under a male pseudonym.

In this book's introduction, an autobiographical account of the author's years as an American Custom House official, Hawthorne describes how he came across a parchment from which fell a fraying piece of fabric, fantastically embroidered and inscribed with the scarlet letter A. He found himself compelled to tell the story of its owner, Hester Prynne, a young English woman who had lived in 17th-century Boston at the time when Puritan extremism - that which led to the infamous witch trials of Salem - was at its height.

The genius of this story about an acrimonious divorce lies in its being told from a little girl's point of view. Touching and insightful, it is a hilariously acerbic observation of a refined form of child exploitation and neglect. Upon their divorce, little Maisie finds herself of interest to her parents only as a means of expressing their mutual hatred for each other.

Catherine Sloper, the heroine of this tragicomic tale set in mid-19th century New York, is absolutely ordinary in every way except for her exceptional capacities in love and loyalty. These latter qualities are of no interest to her father, the successful society Doctor who is constantly disappointed by his daughter's failure to be brilliant, either physically or intellectually. For this reason, he is highly suspicious when Morris Townsend begins to woo her and is convinced the handsome young man's interest is only in the fortune Catherine will eventually inherit.