I find this author’s works to be hit and miss, though this one falls somewhere in between.

The minus points:

Melodrama is never far away.

It features many instances where a character talks to themselves just to let the reader know what’s going on. This is a lame way to convey info, and it’s unbelievable that anyone would have such lengthy discussions with themselves, especially when their words could land them in serious trouble.

The quote below is an example of a character “murmuring” to himself. Apart from it being unbelievable that he’d say all this to himself, it also drifts into melodrama at times:

>"Hum," murmured he, "in spite of pallor and attenuation, there are yet traces of great
beauty. I am sure if well nourished and well clothed she may yet allure the heart which must
be ever touched with pity for her mournful fate; besides, she is poor—hopelessly,
despairingly poor. The husband is a drunkard, the children cry for bread; she is so poorly
clad, so pale, so thin; hunger has been her only lover. Under these circumstances she will
readily adopt my plans, and be my willing tool; she will acknowledge me as her master, and
by God I will teach her how to bind this headstrong fool in chains. He has so far escaped all
the pitfalls which Fredersdorf and myself have so adroitly laid for him. Dorris shall be the
Delilah who will tame this new Samson. Truly," he continued, as he cast a look of contempt
upon the senseless form lying before him, "truly it is a desperate attempt to transform this
dirty, pale, thin woman into a Delilah. But the past is powerfully in her favor, and my
Samson has a heart full of melting pity and sensibility; moreover all previous efforts have
failed, and it is pardonable to seek for extraordinary means in our despair. So to work! to
work!" ( )

EXCELLENT READING

2164 Frederick the Great and His Court, by Louise Muhlbach (read 24 Sep 1988) This novel tells of Frederick the Great as his father was in the tail end of his reign and the first years of Frederick the Great's reign. On the whole it is complimentary to Frederick the Great, and at the end he even comes to realize his wife--whom he does not love--loves him and he gains in appreciation of her. The first part of the book is fairly plotless but the latter part has an elaborate stilted plot centered around Frederick's brother's love for Laura von Pannewitz and a gardener's love for a maid of Frederick's mother. I found the book readable, and it is pleasant to know that one will not come onto vulgarity, obscenity and other deviltry as one reads placidly along. I believe I'll read another of her books! ( )