''The Deliverance: A Romance of the Virginia Tobacco Fields'' is a 1904 novel by American author

Ellen Glasgow Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873 – November 21, 1945) was an American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1942 for her novel ''In This Our Life''. She published 20 novels, as well as short stories, to critical ac ...

. It was the second-best selling book in the United States for 1904. Hackett, Alice Payne
Seventy years of best sellers, 1895-1965
p. 100 (1967) In combination with her two prior novels ''Voice of the People'' (1900) and ''The Battle-Ground'' (1902), these three works tell a history of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

starting from the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

through the start of the twentieth century.Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow, 1873-1945 and Frank Earle Schoonover, 1877-1972 -The Deliverance: A Romance of the Virginia Tobacco Fields
Documenting the American South, Retrieved 3 March 2016Rice, Mrs. M. Gordon Pryor (23 January 1904)
First Novel of 1904 (review)
''

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''(10 January 1904)
New Novel from Hand of Virginia Authoress
''

Richmond Times-Dispatch The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond, the capital of Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia. Circulation The ''Times-Dispatc ...

'', p. 6B, col. 1Ritchie, Robert W. (21 February 1904)
"The Deliverance" a Powerful Book
''

San Francisco Call ''The San Francisco Call'' was a newspaper that served San Francisco, California. Because of a succession of mergers with other newspapers, the paper variously came to be called ''The San Francisco Call & Post'', the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin ...

'', p. 7.(29 March 1904)
Book Reviews
''

The Progressive Farmer ''Progressive Farmer'' is an agricultural magazine, published 14 times a year by Data Transmission Network, DTN. The magazine is based in Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama. History Founded in Winston, North Carolina, in 1886 by North Car ...

'', p. 8, col. 3. The frontispiece of the novel and illustrations were done by

Frank Schoonover Frank Earle Schoonover (August 19, 1877 – September 1, 1972) was an American illustrator who worked in Wilmington, Delaware. A member of the Brandywine School, he was a contributing illustrator to magazines and did more than 5,000 painting ...

Synopsis

A synopsis of the book published in 1910 states:

This is a romance of the Virginia tobacco fields and has for its central figure Christopher Blake. He is the descendant of a rich and aristocratic family, and through reduced fortunes is obligated to work as a laborer on the estate which for generations has been owned by his forebears. Upon the death of his father, when he is only ten years old, he suddenly finds home and fortune snatched from him, and with a blind mother and two sisters to support he begins a life of toil. He foregoes education and drudges unceasingly that his mother may be kept in ignorance of her change of fortune and that his twin sister may not have to work. After fifteen years of this existence his nature becomes hardened and his heart is filled with hatred for Mr. Fletcher, the past manager of the estate, who is now its possessor. Fletcher, who is a vulgar and ugly tempered man, has gained his possessions by cheating and dishonesty, and Christopher's one though from childhood has been a desire for revenge. He finds his opportunity in leading to ruin Fletcher's grandson, Will, a weak young fellow, who is idolized by his grandfather. Christopher leads him into dissipation and teaches him to despise his grandfather till finally in a moment of drunken frenzy he kills him. Then Christopher realizes the enormity of his sin, aids Will to escape, and takes the punishment. He goes to prison to serve out a five years' sentence, but after three years have passed is pardoned out through the efforts of Maria Wyndham, Fletcher's granddaughter, whom he has loved for years. Maria, who has returned his affection and is now the heir to the estate, is only too glad to restore it to its rightful owner, and the lovers, and their many years of unhappiness, are at least united.Warner, Charles Dudley, ed
Warner's synopsis of books ancient and modern, Vol. II
p. 594 (1910 edition)

References

External links

''The Deliverance'' at Project Gutenberg''The Deliverance''
(1904), at archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Deliverance, The 1904 American novels American historical novels Novels set in Virginia