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UK Authors - Romance- |
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Through Flood and Flame |
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| Through Flood and Flame by Sabine Baring-Gould Praxis Books 362 pages, 1997 ISBN 0952842017 Reviewed by our UK Editor Rachel A. Hyde Baring-Gould wrote thirty novels. This one, originally published in 1868, was his first. It is partly autobiographical, as the simple and loving mill girl Annis Greenwell is a fictionalised portrait of his wife, Grace Taylor. The background of a mill town in Yorkshire is a brilliantly realised piece of social history, but if any reader imagines a dull tale - think again. This is a wonderfully exuberant piece of Victorian melodrama - unashamedly replete in extreme weather conditions, suffering virtue, raging drama and Dickensian grotesques. Through Flood and Flame is a thrilling story with plenty of comedy and action, as well as pathos and asides to the reader. The plot revolves around the young Hugh Arkwright, nephew to the mill owner, who meets and falls in love with one of the mill girls. Naturally, all are opposed to the union and try to keep them apart, but to no avail. It is not this simple but oft-told story that captures the attentions and stays in the memory though but the well-delineated portraits of the lesser characters. There is the "Man Monkey", itinerant preacher and self-confessed murderer Richard Grover; the tragic and highly Grand Guignol night watchman Joe Earnshaw, with his disfigured face and thrilling voice; giddy heiress Laura Doldrums, who is determined to wreak havoc in the mill; Mr Arkwright’s German wife frantically leafing through her worterbuch - and many more. As an additional part of the background, there is much comment on the battle between the various religious sects and Baring-Gould’s strong opinions on the Ranters, or Primitive Methodists, revival meetings and glory bands marching through the streets. If you like Dickens and Wilkie Collins you will love this. Definitely one for the keeper shelf. |
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