Marianne Thornton (Abinger Editions) [Hardcover]

E.M. Forster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000 | Series: Abinger Editions (Book 15)

The Abinger Edition of Marianne Thornton, based upon E. M. Forster's own annotated copy, presents the text of one of his two full-length biographies.

This truly was a 'domestic' biography, documenting the life of Forster's great aunt. Marianne died in 1887, when Forster was aged eight, but his decision to focus upon her rather than one of his more publicly famous ancestors enabled him to emphasise the private implications of public life and give pride of place to the inner life. He was intrigued by the personality that emerged from the wealth of family archives he plundered during his research, and Marianne's longevity enabled him to draw a rounded portrait of public and private life from the Georgian England of unreformed parliaments to the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 362 pages
• Publisher: Andre Deutsch (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0233993843
• ISBN-13: 978-0233993843
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,116,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars E.M. Forster's Great Aunt..., July 28, 2004

By 

Judy Smith "judylynnsbooks" (jamestown, ky United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marianne Thornton: A domestic biography, 1797-1887 (A Harvest book) (Paperback)

Forster tells of the fascinating period in which she lived, from George III through the last years of Victoria's reign, and of his own boyhood. Drawn from his own recollections and from her correspondence and journals. Here are glimpses of Marianne's friends: Lord Macaulay, William Wilberforce (the abolitionist), Hannah Moore (the reformer), and Florence Nightingale (who probably went off to the Crimea because she was tired of picking up her mother's spectacles, says Marianne), but above all it is the story of Marianne herself. She was one of nine children of a prominent banker and philanthropist, who observed her times at home at Battersea Rise, near London, with the persepective of a candid, charming, and intelligent lady possessed of social conscience.

Marianne's England was an England of stern moral rectitude...the fact that Henry Thornton married his deceased wife's sister caused a scandal in society and in Parliament (it was typical of Marianne's determined brother that he should move his family to the Continent and fight for a change in English law to make his marriage fully respectable, says she.) She never married and stayed at Battersea to preserve and protect the heritage (and worried that Napoleaon would cross the channel just to cut down her tulip tree). You can tell this book was written with love by E. M. Forster.

16 illustrations.

Refers to the 1956 1st edition.