Desolate splendour: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
Desolate splendour: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
Desolate splendour is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Sadleir, Michael (1888–1957).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"Desolate Splendour" by Michael Sadleir is a novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on Morvane, a grand but troubled English estate dominated by a sinister tower, and follows the clashing ambitions of the Plethern family—hedonistic Charles, calculating James, and their iron-willed mother Rowena—against the backdrop of a decaying neighbouring valley owned by the aloof Earl of Rockarvon. The sudden arrival of Viola Marvell, a poised Canadian orphan placed in Charles’s care, becomes a catalyst for testing desire, duty, and the family’s hunger for power and property. The opening of this novel evokes Morvane’s faded approach and its eerie campanile, “The Devil’s Candle,” with a Jacobite legend that foreshadows the family’s pride and doom. It sketches the rise of “King” Plethern, whose marriage to the frigidly controlling Rowena ends in humiliation and the birth of twins: Charles the charming rover and James the hard, ambitious strategist. After King Plethern’s death, Charles inherits; James turns to politics and the city; and Charles secretly expands Morvane while resenting the blighted Rockarvon valley he longs to possess. A backstory links Charles to Viola through her father Marvell, a brilliant Cambridge outsider who once saved Charles’s life and later died in Canada, prompting Charles to summon Viola to England. Viola’s arrival introduces a cool, self-possessed beauty who instantly unsettles old routines: she meets Lady Grieve’s kindness, Rowena’s veiled probing, and Corinne’s eager friendship. In a tense library interview, Viola reveals that her mother did not die but ran away, and when Charles’s sympathy turns too intimate she firmly reasserts herself; later, Corinne confides that Charles is a notorious “rip,” while offering Viola alliance and a way into London society.
Book and edition facts
- Title: Desolate splendour
- Author credits: Sadleir, Michael (1888–1957)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
- Families -- Fiction
- Guardian and ward -- Fiction
- Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
- Orphans -- Fiction
- Young women -- 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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