Alice, or the Mysteries — Complete

About the book

In a quiet Devonshire cottage, Lady Vargrave wonders whether she has protected her daughter Evelyn too thoroughly from the world. A dying husband's wishes have marked out Lord Vargrave as Evelyn's future husband, but the girl has little experience against which to judge him. Reports of his calculating ambition make that sheltered upbringing increasingly troubling. This continuation of Ernest Maltravers reconnects its earlier emotional history with the choices facing a younger generation. Bulwer-Lytton sets domestic affection beside the pursuit of influence, money, and social position, allowing past attachments to complicate present appearances. The mysteries concern the relationships and concealed histories beneath respectable names, while the central question is whether gratitude to the dead should determine the happiness of those still living.

• Inherited obligations
• Ambition and affection
• Hidden personal histories

Why read it

The opening conversation turns an apparently advantageous engagement into a precise conflict between parental gratitude and a daughter's freedom.

Complete English text of Alice, or the Mysteries