The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

The Blurb On The Back:

A cold October night, 1854. In a dark passageway, for no apparent reason, an innocent man is stabbed to death.

So begins the extraordinary tale of Edward Glyver, book lover, scholar and murderer. As a young boy, Glyver always believed he was destined for greatness. Brought up in modest circumstances by the sea, this seems the stuff of dreams, until a chance discovery convinces him that he was right: greatness does await him, along with immense wealth and influence. Overwhelmed by his discovery, he will stop at nothing to win back a prize that he now knows is rightfully his.

Murder. Deceit. Love. Revenge. These are the watchwords that Glyver myst call his own. His path leads him from the depths of Victorian London, with its foggy streets, brothers and opium dens, to Evenwood, one of England's most beautiful and enchanting country houses. His is a story of betrayal and treachery, death and delusion, ruthless obsession and ambition. And at every turn, driving Glyver irresistably onwards, is his deadly rival: the poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt.

Thirty years in the writing, The Meaning of Night is a stunning achievement. Full of drama and passion, it is an enthralling novel that will captivate readers right up to its final thrilling revelation.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

After a terrific start, this book is ultimately a huge disappointment. Grossly inflated and far too contrived, for me it simply did not live up to the hype.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Blurb On The Back:

Mary Barton, the daughter of a disillusioned trade unionist, rejects her working-class lover Jem Wilson in the hope of marrying Henry Carson, the mill-owner's son, and making a better life for herself and her father. But when Henry is shot down in the street and Jem becomes the main suspect, Mary finds herself painfully torn between the two men. Through Mary's dilemma, and the moving portrayal of her father, the embittered and courageous activist John Barton, Mary Barton (1848) powerfully dramatizes the class divisions of the 'hungry forties' as personal tragedy. In its social and political setting, it looks forward to Elizabeth Gaskell's great novels of the industrial revolution, in particular North and South

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Overblown in places and at times the heroine needs a smack, but it's an interesting book and one that has some sympathy for the plight of the workers (albeit that this doesn't translate to wanting them to actively change their circumstances through unionism).