This summaryof the novel is from Ernest Baker and James Packman, A Guide to the Best Fiction (London: George Routledge, 1932) — DB

A leisurely romance with a mystery which turns out to be a hoax. Scenes of rural life in eastern Devon just before the 1832 Reform Bill, portraits of village worthies and much descriptive work. The river Perle is Culmstock River, and several village worthies were drawn from people Blackmore knew in his boyhood. Scoffs at modem cant about education.


Last updated 25 April 2006