Eponymous

The Morgesons – Elizabeth Stoddard

·

·

This is Elizabeth Drew Stoddard (1823-1902).

She published her first novel ‘The Morgesons’ in 1862.

We follow the development of heroine, Cassandra Morgeson, and her unworldly sister Veronica.

Cassandra develops a taste for the wrong kind of man, falling in love with her married cousin Charles.

After he dies when their carriage overturns, she becomes infatuated with Desmond Somers, who is tainted by the family curse of alcoholism.

Her mother dies; her father bankrupts himelf, then secretly remarries Charles’s widow, alienating Cassandra.

Veronica marries Desmond’s brother, Ben. Desmond returns from self-exile in Spain, having overcome his demons thanks to his undying love for Cassandra. Both sisters seem destined to live happily ever after, but Ben takes to drink and dies.

It is a curious, cryptic, enigmatic novel in which the rigid 19th Century social conventions dominate only superficially.

Meanwhile, the dialogue and characterisation often speak of a more elliptical, irrational, chaotic and ultimately unknowable reality lying hidden somewhere beneath.

TD

April 2023

Eponymous © 2015-2026 by Tim Dracup is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Leave a comment

Eponymous, better known as timdracup.com, contains long-form posts drafted by a real human being. Everything is free to read. I specialise in Dracup family history, British walking trails and literary book reviews. But you’ll also find writing about music, bereavement and much else besides.

Eponymous

Designed with WordPress.

The Needle’s Eye – Margaret Drabble

Having reviewed A.S. Byatt’s ‘The Virgin in the Garden’ last year, I decided to return to the work of her sister, Margaret Drabble. Our only previous encounter involved ‘The Garrick Year’ (1964) which I tackled in the sixth form, during the hot summer of 1976, almost exactly half a century ago. She was born three…

Tim Dracup's avatar by Tim Dracup

Pembrokeshire Coast Path: St Dogmaels to Abercastle

Having completed the South West Coast Path in September 2025, and even reprised the first section so that Tracy could complete it too, it was time for a new challenge. So, at the end of June 2026, we began the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. It extends 186 miles (299 kilometres) between St Dogmaels, near Cardigan, and…

Tim Dracup's avatar by Tim Dracup

The King of a Rainy Country – Brigid Brophy

Brigid Antonia Brophy (1929-1995) was born in Ealing, London, to John Brophy, an author and journalist, and Charis, nee Grundy, a teacher. She attended a variety of secondary schools before winning a scholarship to Oxford, where she studied classics. But she was invited to leave without completing her degree, for reasons she preferred to gloss…

Tim Dracup's avatar by Tim Dracup