The Incomplete Amorist

Reproduction of the original: The Incomplete Amorist by E. Nesbit

Throughout our lives most of us struggle with the big L: Love, and so does 18-year-old Betty Desmond. Brought up by a strict stepfather, the young girl makes an imprudent match when she falls in love with the artist Vernon. Everyone around them disapproves of the relationship, and consequently Betty gets sent away to Paris. But perhaps the City of Love is not the right place to forget your fancy? In Paris Betty meets one of Vernon’s friends who falls for her. Surprisingly, Vernon also shows up with his ex-girlfriend, Lady St. Craye, and a full-blown love drama begins. Although Edith Nesbit is mostly known for her amazing children’s books, this novel is her ultimate love story for adults. Born in Kennington in 1858, Edith Nesbit wrote and co-authored over 60 beloved adventures at the beginning of the 20th century. Among her most popular books are "The Story of the Treasure-Seekers" (1899), "The Phoenix and the Carpet" (1904), and "The Railway Children" (1906). Many of her works became adapted to musicals, movies, and TV shows. Along with her husband Hubert Bland, she was among the first members of the Fabian society - a socialist debating club. A path in London close to her home was named "Railway Children Walk" in her honor, manifesting her legacy as one of the pioneers within the children’s fantasy genre.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Edith Nesbit was a social and political liberal who wrote some of my favorite children's novels. So I looked forward to reading this adult novel. It was published in 1906 and tells the story of naive Betty Desmond who, after her mother died, grew up with her unemotional vicar stepfather in a rural parish. Bored with country life and the chores of a parsonage, she is out drawing one day when she meets Mr. Vernon, a painter who courts women as a harmless game. Vernon also has little to do, and they start meeting with their art supplies in the forest. He paints her portrait and helps her with her artistic skills. Their attraction to each other alarms her prudish stepfather who sends her off to a French boarding school. Mr. Vernon and Betty meet again in Paris where a complex love quartet forms with a former lover of Vernon's and his best friend. Each of the four people think they are in love with the two people of the opposite sex and must make up their mind which is their true love. Intrigue, miscommunication, love, guilt, and jealousy all mix with Nesbit's charming writing style to produce enjoyable characters in a dilemma that kept this reader interested to the last page. The novel is a comedy of manners that relies more on charming characters than witty ones. The general good will gives the book an innocence that comes easily to an author who wrote primarily for children.

As the book opens, young Betty, one of the most irritating characters Nesbit ever created, is sewing. Perhaps recognizing that this, um, lacks a certain excitement, Nesbit adds that Betty wants to be an artist (meant to be mildly shocking) and soon introduces a (gasp) young man, Vernon, who (gasp) sees her without a chaperone (gasp gasp) and even-holds her hand in order to tell her fortune. (You can all just go ahead and pass out now, the way the witness to this mostly does.)The two are (gasp gasp gasp) caught by Betty's stepfather, an earnest, well meaning, highly moralistic vicar, and in a scene that does not read the same way now as it might have in 1906, the vicar hits Vernon, who behaves nobly by bowing and going away, and locks Betty in her room. She's eighteen. As a glimpse into late Victorian social structures this is all highly entertaining, but contemporary readers may find this just a bit-a bit-overwrought.But at least understandable, unlike the next bit, where Betty's aunt arrives and decides to send the shocking young girl off to Paris, under the valid idea that she'll get over Vernon faster in Paris than locked up in her room. Okay, that's explicable; what makes no sense is that the stepfather-who, just a chapter ago was locking an eighteen year old in her room, with bars on the window, because a man was holding her hand-agrees to let this same girl go to Paris and study art under the chaperonage of a complete stranger. Yeah. Right.

The Incomplete Amorist: large print by E. Nesbit A may bush, overhanging a little precipice of chalk, caught her eye. A wild rose was tangled round it. It was, without doubt, the most difficult composition within sight. "I will sketch that," said Eighteen, confidently. For half an hour she busily blotted and washed and niggled. Then she became aware that she no longer had the rabbit warren to herself. "And he's an artist, too!" said Betty. "How awfully interesting! I wish I could see his face." But this his slouched Panama forbade. He was in white, the sleeve and breast of his painting jacket smeared with many colours. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.