Customer Reviews

John Marchmont's Legacy (Oxford World's Classics)

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M E Braddon was one of the most prolific Sensation novellists of the nineteenth century. Her popularity as a novellist of the suspenseful, shocking and unexpected was surpassed only by Wilkie Collins (The Moonstone; The Woman in White). The central character in "John Marchmont's legacy" is Olivia Marchmont, a woman driven by intense passions, and unable to accept that the man she loves cannot return her feelings. Olivia is a wonderful portrait of a woman stifled by the conventions of Victorian society and the limited scope for a woman of intelligence and ambition. Her thwarted passions lead her to become involved with a true villain who will do anything to accomplish his wicked designs. This is a great melodrama with all the elements of a true Sensation novel- handsome hero; delicate, virtuous heroine- but also a truly unique character in Olivia.

I will have to agree that this is NOT Braddon's best work. However, it is not as bad as some of the other reviewers make it out to be. The biggest fault is that the story is quite slow to get going. If the reader can hang on and make it through about a third of the story, they will be rewarded with what we normally expect in sensation fiction. I was also somewhat put off by the little synopsis on the back of the book. It is very misleading. There is a lot more to the plot than what that little blurb suggests.
If you are new to Braddon, I would suggest starting with some of her other titles such as The Trail of The Serpent or Aurora Floyd.

During the 1860s Wilkie Collins, with his terrific The Woman In White, started the period of 'sensation' novels. These novels are rather over-the-type, almost slapstick-like mystery stories. Mary Elizabeth Braddon followed with her own flavor of sensation novels. While I love many of Wilkie Collins novels I was disappointed with Braddon's most famous work, Lady Audley's Secret. But when I ran into a copy of John Marchmont's Legacy I thought I'd give Ms Braddon a try. Was I disappointed? Well...

Firstly, the story is a typical Victorian era melodrama: family members squabbling over an inheritance, with certain members stopping at nothing to become rich. Ms Braddon does do a good job on the characterizations, and the ultimate mystery does build up to a good conclusion. The book is nicely structured (..unlike Lady Audley's Secret, where we find the story basically ending 100 pages from the finish).

However Ms Braddon is simply not a very good writer. Her prose is weak, especially compared to Wilkie Collins. Every third sentence ends with an exclamation point, which must be Ms Braddon's way of indicating high drama (?).

Bottom line: a unremarkable slice of Victorian literary history. Certainly not terrible, but nonetheless a far cry from Wilkie Collins material.

I got here after getting to Collins, after going through Dickens. This is an awful book, in my humble opinion. Why has it been resurrected? (Rhetorical) If you love Dickens, maybe you found Collins, and if you love Collins, then you and I are relevantly similar, so let me tell you, don't bother with this insipid tripe, or with "Doctor's Wife" for that matter. Unless you are simply obligated, because you are a gendered wannabe English professor, in some forsaken place, poor you.