Elinor GlynReseñas

A romance between a young Englishman and a noble Queen incognito. She desires him and they have a passionate affair for three weeks in Switzerland, which changes both of their lives.

***If you are planning on reading this book, please skip this review as there are spoilers included***

Red Hair by Elinor Glyn is a vintage romance story that was originally published in 1905. I suspect that the author had her tongue firmly in her cheek when she wrote about Evangeline Travers, a young, ravishing redhead who has been brought up by a rich guardian, Mrs. Carruthers. Upon Mrs. Carruthers death, her nephew and heir, Christopher arrives but he rejects the arranged marriage that the older woman desired. He then changes his mind, tries to contain Evangeline and marry her. His friend Lord Robert arrives and all too soon both men are dancing to the tune that Evangeline plays.

Evangeline is rather a provoking heroine, she appears to be amusing herself with these men, flirting outrageously and threatening to become an adventuress. It appears that because of her red hair everyone expects her to be trouble but with no connections or money there is not a lot she can do. Christopher eventually appears to forget about her but Lord Robert stays near and eventually wins Evangeline as his wife.

I found Red Hair to be rather dated and silly. It was originally published under the title “The Vicissitudes of Evangeline” which seems a much more fitting title. This was a light and quick read but I couldn’t help but think that the author originally meant for the romance to have been Evangeline and Christopher as they seemed to have much more chemistry and she and Lord Robert had. But Evangeline was very clever and perhaps becoming a duchess is exactly what she planned for.

A film starring Clara Bow (Paramount, 1927).

A girl schemes to marry her boss.

C+ (Okay).

It's often delightful, despite the garbage story.

(Mar. 2023)

H.H. 45

The 1907 equivalent of 50 Shades of Grey, panned by critics but setting readers’ hearts aflutter. Handsome and athletic young Englishman Paul Verdayne is sent abroad by his family to recover from an unfortunate romance with a girl below his class. In Switzerland, he meets an older Mysterious Lady, who affects a bright red slash of lipstick against a pale complexion (Perhaps author Elinor Glyn was modeling her heroine on the Marchesa Casati? I think the timing isn’t right; I don’t believe the Marchesa had adopted her trademark makeup style by 1907). Said Mysterious Lady quickly seduces Paul – well, quickly by 1907 standards, mostly accomplished with a “strange kiss” – and they spend the titular three weeks engaged in very discretely described amatory activity; in the most risqué scene, he enters her rooms and finds her stretched out on a tiger skin, with a rose in her teeth (she’s clothed – it’s 1907, after all – but it’s a “close-fitting” garment). I can’t go any further, lest spoilers. Strangely fun. In a latter novel, Ms. Glyn coined the term “It” to describe sex appeal; when “It” was filmed, Clara Bow became the “It Girl”.

Unread.

Reviewed at Edwardian Promenade as: "A self made woman’s rise from a stenographer in a money lender’s office to a conspicuous round in the social ladder. How she learns from the mistakes she makes and how one’s actions come back to confront one make the story a life transcript. It is a constructive tale of how a woman made good in English society and her love story is evidently an engrossing one, and furthermore it is a perfectly proper story with a serious purpose. [Bookseller, vol. 45]
Melody: It’s always fun to see a heroine who is allowed to be smart and ambitious and doesn’t get punished for it — especially since she also doesn’t get punished for having pre-marital sex. Katherine’s efforts to better herself are a delight, and Glyn’s sharply observed social commentary is as good here as it is anywhere. I recommend this one pretty unequivocally."

In the mood for a book featuring an elegant rake, rapiers, mysterious highwayman, a spunky heroine, an Irish romantic, adventure and misadventure? You'll find all that between the covers of this classic example of Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. An honorable and a dishonorable peer of the realm contest each other for the love of a resourceful and intelligent young lady who may prove to be more than a handful for both of them.

There's nothing on these pages that will tax your mind but there's plenty here to divert it and to delight the reader who enjoys period fiction and novels of manners that are peppered with occasional derring-do. Not too sugary nor too spicy but acerbic enough to add the perfect touch of tartness that keeps this novel light yet avoids being "light-weight"-- a tasty summer niblet of fiction.

A high rating for this extraordinary book. Not for its literary quality, gawdelpus, but for the enormous pleasure to be derived from reading it, with its glorious, unintentional, comic qualities!

Elinor Glyn, the woman who coined the term "It Girl", writes wonderfully period-specific novels that one cannot read enough.

Book Description: Hard Cover. VG/No Jacket. First Edition. Bound in green quarter cloth and paper boards; previous owner's stamp on front paste down; "Advice for women" wrapped in fairy-tale dressing; 82pp.

NY Harper & Brothers (1903). First American edition. Light age-toning to the boards, corners rubbed and worn, a very good or better copy lacking the rare dust wrapper.