Allan's 155th birthday, and Dying Fires at the Exchange

[kalypso_v]

It's my grandfather Allan's 155th birthday, so again I'll post an extract from his writing. The past two years I've drawn on the two plays which were revived at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond recently (and later at the Mint in New York). But I thought today I would go back to one of the novels.

Dying Fires was published in 1912, and is

Comments

[jhall1]

Thank you. I enjoyed reading that.

The turmoil, the heat, and the reek of it were disturbing

That's an effective description, and the word "reek" particularly caught my eye. I suppose that's what crowded places would have been like in the days before deoderants and with less ready access to hot water for bathing.

Don't judge any class by its crowds.

That strikes me as being very perceptive.

Under her breath she was repeating: "I'm Letitia Mary Drayton, I'm Letitia Mary Drayton," whimsically recalling the day in her childhood when she was lost and had been recovered through this insistence on identity.

That passage really brings the character alive.

[vjezkova]

I have always been fascinated with your family - so precious!