An odd couple: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
An odd couple: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
An odd couple is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) (1828–1897).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"An odd couple" by Mrs. Oliphant is a novel written in the late 19th century. It follows Charles and Ada Tremenheere, a cultivated but ill-matched pair whose constant clashes over principles and social ideals lead them to contemplate—and then enact—a decorous separation, splitting their children, lively Vera and sensitive Eddy, between them. The narrative probes marital incompatibility, reputation, and gendered ideas of education. Elinor Meadows, a blunt, progressive friend, and Miss Campbell, a severe governess, intensify the family’s battle between affection, pride, and principle. The opening of the novel traces the cool, startling moment when Charles proposes parting and Ada, unshaken, agrees, turning a morning quarrel into a life-altering decision. Attempts at dinner-table conciliation fail; Elinor arrives as mediator; and the children reveal the rift in small ways—Vera’s bold chatter, Eddy’s quiet loyalty—before Ada departs with Eddy on Christmas Eve, leaving Vera with her father. Ada’s anxious over-mothering soon makes Eddy pale and timid until Elinor prods her to send him to a public school near a new home she rents; meanwhile Charles, alarmed by Vera’s unchecked freedom (even in the servants’ hall), installs the austere Miss Campbell. The section culminates at Lord’s: years have passed, Eddy is captain of the eleven, Vera—now sixteen—watches him with rapt pride, while, at a distance in the crowd, her mother gazes at her grown “child,” feeling the ache of their long separation.
Book and edition facts
- Title: An odd couple
- Author credits: Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) (1828–1897)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Married people -- Fiction
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Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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