THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT

THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT is, unusually for Mrs. Henry Wood, touched with a tinge of Gothic, in the form of the curse on the house of Godolphin and the ominous shadow that sometimes appears on the Dark Plain. In another sense, however, such fare is typical of Wood's belief in destiny: one slip, one instance of trifling with the rules of fate or morality, will bring doom upon the miscreant's head. Mr. George Godolphin gets wet and sits in his shirtsleeves, and brings on infirmity that has him on crutches for months. He ought to have known, then, that more serious lapses in judgment would bring on his ruin. The reader does know, and part of the fascination of the book is the satisfying horror of watching it all happen. Anything to do with the body, of course, is entirely taboo, which makes it all the more remarkable that scandals of the body are at the center of the book. Even Maria's pregnancies, as far from scandal as the book comes, are couched in such veiled terms that a modern reader has to be alert to catch them. When, for instance, Mrs. Verrall notes that Maria has lost the roses in her cheeks, Maria's incomplete reply gives away the secret.

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Mrs. Henry Wood, née Ellen Price, (born Jan. 17, 1814, Worcester, Worcestershire, Eng.-died Feb. 10, 1887, London), English novelist who wrote the sensational and extremely popular East Lynne (1861), a melodramatic and moralizing tale of the fall of virtue. Translated into many languages, it was dramatized with great success, and its plot has been frequently imitated in popular fiction.Other highly successful works followed, and in some of them (notably the novel The Channings [1862] and her Johnny Ludlow tales [1868-91]) Wood showed great ability in storytelling and in creating natural middle-class characters and relationships. In 1867 she became proprietor and editor of Argosy magazine.Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society.BRITANNICA QUIZLiterary Favorites: Fact or Fiction?Love literature? This quiz sorts out the truth about beloved authors and stories, old and new.This article was most rec