Judith Paris (The Herries Chronicle) [Paperback]

Hugh Walpole (Author), Eric Robson (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2011 | Series: The Herries Chronicle

Set partly in Revolutionary Paris, and partly in romantic Cumbria, Judith Paris is the story of the two very different men who love Walpole's most delightful heroine.

Daughter of Francis Herries and Mirabell Starr, Judith was described on publication as 'the most delightful of Walpole's heroines'. As impetuous, impulsive and passionate as her father, she is torn between her ambitions and her love of the wild beauty of the Lakes. Set partly in Paris during the French Revolution, and partly in the unforgettably romantic Cumbrian hamlet of Watendlath, it is the story of the two very different men who love her, and is both comic and moving, by turns tragic and triumphant. The second of the Herries Chronicles, it sold 20,000 copies in its first week of publication in 1931.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fiction in glorious, sweeping measure, set against wild and beautiful scenery and crowded with fairs, balls, weddings, duels, witches, abductions, murder and romance. For those that haven't yet read Hugh Walpole there is a treat in store for you. Surely a welcome Christmas gift? Keswick Reminder Walpole's hamfisted, messy and eccentric attempt at the Great Lakeland Novel still deserves to be read. The episodes - by turns gracelessly ornate and bleakly brilliant - remain strangely enthralling and memorable, their self-indulgence a guilty pleasure for the reader too. In the Herries novels, Walpole confessed, he had allowed himself to be, for the first time in his adult life, "what I really am - a little boy telling stories in the dormitory". Times Literary Supplement

From the Back Cover

The second volume of The Herries Chronicle, which recounts the dramatic fortunes of one family from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century, in a magnificent Lake District setting. Here is fiction in glorious, sweeping measure, set against wild and beautiful scenery and crowded with fairs, balls, weddings, duels, witches, abductions, murder and romance.
Set in revolutionary Paris and in the unforgettably romantic Cumbrian hamlet of Watendlath, Judith Paris is the story of the daughter of Francis Herries and Mirabell Star and the two men who love her. As impetuous, impulsive and passionate as her father, she is torn between her ambition and her love of the wild beauty of the Lakes. Judith Paris is by turns comic and moving, tragic and triumphant. It sold 20,000 copies in its first week of publication in 1931.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln; Reprint edition (November 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711228906
• ISBN-13: 978-0711228900
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,610,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Judith Paris, March 29, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judith Paris: A Novel - First Edition (Second Vol in The Herries Chronicles) (Hardcover)

The second volume in the Herries Chronicle, it's the story of tempestuous Judith Herries, daughter of Rogue Herries. Both her parents die on the day she's born, and she's raised by her half brother David, who's 55 years older than she. She marries Georges Paris, a smuggler and gambler, and is unhappy with him. When Georges is violently killed by an avenging father, Judith goes to live with nephew Francis and his wife. A feud breaks out in the Herries household, which is carried over into the next novel in the Chronicle (THE FORTRESS). Judith has an affair with Warren Foster, leaves him, but has a child by him.

The story is a strong one, though saturated with violence (Judith's husband, nephew and lover all die in the story). The character portrayals are good, especially of Judith and Jennifer Cards, Francis's wife and initiator of the feud. The final quarter of the book is not as good as what came before; Judith's sudden delivery of her son is hard to believe, and the action from that point on drags. The book is set during the early years of the 18th century. Among the better of Walpole's novels.