The Trespass: A Novel [Hardcover]

Barbara Ewing (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2003

London 1849. The capital city is living in fear. Cholera is everywhere. Eminent MP Sir Charles Cooper decides it is too risky for his younger daughter, the strangely beautiful and troubled Harriet, and sends her-but not her beloved sister Mary-to the countryside.

Rusholme is a world away from London, full of extraordinary relations: Harriet's cousin Edward and his plans for a new life in New Zealand; Aunt Lucretia, reliant on afternoon wine and laudanum; the formidable Lady Kingdom and her two eligible, unobtainable sons. However, life in the country can offer only temporary respite to Harriet, who longs to return to her sister.

But when Harriet does come home, London has become more dangerous than ever. Her health, her freedom-even her sanity-are under threat. Escape is essential. Can a young, powerless girl change her life? Can she board the Amaryllis without being discovered? Does she realize that if she flees, more than one person will pursue her, literally to the end of the world?

The Trespass is historical fiction at its most gripping, stretching from the dark side of Victorian London to the optimism and energy of the early New Zealand settlements.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This historical novel presents a somewhat melodramatic view of life in 1849 London. Both London and the novel are thick with excrement, vomit, social oppression, cholera, and sex crimes. Harriet, a wealthy victim of incest in mourning for her beloved sister, flees London for a clean start in New Zealand, where her favorite cousin has just emigrated. Her crazed father and two gentlemen suitors follow closely behind. Along the way, both Harriet and her suitors befriend "lower-class" women and learn the plight of the poor. It's interesting that in a novel that argues so stridently for women's rights, the main character's only qualities seem to be that she is pretty and quiet. Despite the rather prurient descriptions of Harriet's father's intentions toward her, and the somewhat heavy-handed historical allusions (a character just happens to be friends with Charles Darwin, another is named for Mary Wollstonecraft), the adventure is fast paced and enjoyable. The author's point about the historical roles of women and the poor and the connection between them is also well taken. Marta Segal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Fast-paced and surprisingly free of heavy breathing: an excellent historical novel enlivened with a dash of romance."
-- Kirkus Reviews (July 15, 2003)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (July 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312314205
• ISBN-13: 978-0312314200
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Historical, August 29, 2003

By 

Annette Gisby "agisby" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trespass: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the London cholera epidemic of 1849, MP Sir Charles Cooper is
worried for his youngest daughter, seventeen year old Harriet, and
resolves to send her away to the country until the danger has past.

Harriet is pleased to get away from her father, but also worried that
he won't send her elder sister, Mary, with her. Isn't she in danger
from the cholera too? (More danger than either of them know, for Mary
has been helping a doctor treat the cholera patients in the poorest
parts of London.)

Harriet enjoys her stay in the country with her cousins, and wonders
at the easy way the family has with each other, for there is a dark
secret at her London home, one she has no words for, because how can
a young lady speak of the unspeakable?

Harriet plans a daring escape to New Zealand, following in the footsteps
of her cousin, for surely even her father's reach cannot get so far
as New Zealand?

This book is excellent, with a little dash of history thrown in now and

then, but without turning the novel into a history book. The main
emphasis is on the characters, and what characters they were. So
realisitic and evolved. I was on tenterhooks the whole time wondering
of Harriet could ever escape.

At a time when women had no money of their own (unless they were lower
class and could work), they were owned first by their fathers and
then by their husbands, and were not even allowed to work, how could
a young girl escape her terrible fate?

"Everything you say is yours, belongs to me, is provided by me,
everything, every breath that you take belongs to me. I am your
father. And as you well know you owe me absolute obedience."

I devoured this book in two days, you just have to keep reading to
find out what happens next. With a wealth of historical detail and
well drawn characters, it's one you'd want to read again.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of The Chosen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful!!!, April 25, 2005

By 

L. Harbour "book worm" (fort worth ,tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trespass: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books of historical fiction I have ever read.The characters are so belivable you feel you have been transport in time and are part of their world. I read this book in two days, much to the happiness of my children who orded takeout for dinner 2 nights in arrow. (they never get takeout)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow..., August 27, 2004

By 

Annie "bookwishes4" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Trespass: A Novel (Hardcover)

That is what the cover of this little known book should say. I am a big fan of historical fiction and The Trespass was one of the best books in this genre I have ever read. I was hooked right from page one and the story never lost my interest. I felt like I was right there with this young girl Harriet, while she was trying to get away from her father and her life in London.