''The Gaverocks: A Tale of the Cornish Coast'' is a novel by
Sabine Baring-Gould
Sabine Baring-Gould ( ; 28 January 1834 – 2 January 1924) of Lew Trenchard in Devon, England, was an Anglican priest, hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist, folk song collector and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1,240 ...
, published in 1887.
[Hahn; Robins 2008.]
Synopsis
Hender Gaverock is an eccentric old Cornish squire, who has two sons, Garens and Constantine, whose natural spirits have been almost wholly crushed by his harsh and brutal rule. Garens philosophically submits, but Constantine rebels; and the book is chiefly occupied with the misdeeds, and their consequences, of the younger son, whose revolt against his father's tyranny rapidly degenerates into a career of vice and crime. He marries secretly, deserts his wife, allows himself to be thought drowned, commits bigamy, robs his father, and is finally murdered as he is about to flee the country.
[Keller 1924, p. 335.]
Analysis
According to
Helen Rex Keller
Helen Rex Keller (August 13, 1876–January 21, 1967) was an American librarian and author of reference books. Her works included a two volume dictionary of dates.(November 20, 1934)Kirkus Reviews (Dictionary of Dates) ''Kirkus Reviews''
Keller ...
, "''The Gaverocks'' is one of the tales of English rural life and studies of distorted development of character, mingled with a touch of the supernatural, in which the author excels. … Exciting events come thick and fast, and the various complications of the plot gradually unravel themselves. The chief characters are boldly and forcibly drawn, and the scenes on both land and water are vividly portrayed; notably the storm in which Constantine and his father are wrecked, the "Goose Fair," and Garens's
samphire
Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies.
*Rock samphire, ''Crithmum maritimum'' is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Unit ...
gathering. The interest is sustained to the end, and the book as a whole is a powerful one, though it can hardly be called pleasant or agreeable."
References
Sources
* Baring-Gould, Sabine (1887). ''The Gaverocks: A Tale of the Cornish Coast''. 3 vols. London: Smith, Elder, & Co
Vol. 1 Vol. 2,
Vol. 3.
* Hahn, Daniel; Robins, Nicholas (2008)
"Baring‐Gould, Sabine" In ''The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain & Ireland''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
Attribution:
* Keller, Helen Rex (1924)
In
The Reader's Digest of Books'. The Library of the World's Best Literature. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 335.
{{Authority control
1887 novels