Name that book?

[Shayne Parkinson]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

(And no one really has any idea of who that mysterious sister Isabella is in my other query? I don't like browsing through a classic that I might read, but I may have to give in and browse through Emma to see if indeed that is it, though I'm still thinking it's more likely another book)

Emma does have a sister called Isabella who lives in London. Emma doesn't go to London in the book, but Isabella and her family do come to visit Emma.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Shayne Parkinson

Emma does have a sister called Isabella who lives in London. Emma doesn't go to London in the book, but Isabella and her family do come to visit Emma.

Thank you! Then that is definitely not the book. In this book there is definitely a visit to the sister/relative/acquaintance, who lives in modest but not poor means, with her husband and possibly children as well, and she and her husband are still rather young-ish. I even have a mental image of the room they visited in as I remember it being described well in the book, and the visit was probably towards the middle-ish part of the book.

As far as I can remember, and I could be wrong here, the visit served to make clear to the protagonist that perhaps her sister hadn't married so well and she may or may not be better off not following her example. But this is a bit of pulling specifics out of thin air that may not be correct.

And let me add the possible mea culpa that perhaps her name may not even be Isabella since I haven't had any luck here or on Google figuring this out, though in my mind there seems to be a strong insinuation that it is.

[Shayne Parkinson]

Hmm, it's now sounding naggingly familiar to me! I can't place it, though. I'll keep it in the back of my mind.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

Could someone help me with this one:

A classic English novel with a female protagonist who at some point goes to visit her sister (or perhaps cousin or relative?) Isabella. Isabella lives in London and is married and not quite so well off but happy enough.

Google tells me this is probably the novel Emma, but I don't particularly remember reading Emma. It could still be it - maybe I had to read it in school and forgot much of it - but before I decide that must be it, I'd like to make sure that there is no other novel that this could fit and that this description precisely fits Emma (all Google tells me is that Emma has a married sister Isabella).

I think this is probably Mansfield Park. The heroine, Fanny Price, is sent at age 10 to live with her mother's sister (who married very well) at Mansfield Park.

She grows up at Mansfield Park, but makes a visit back to her mother's house when she's 18, and is distressed by the differences between the households, not just in terms of money, but also behaviour. (But this is in Portsmouth, not London.)

The sisters in question are the previous generation - one married to a wealthy man, and one not.

HTH.

[DrNefario]

Doesn't Elizabeth Bennett go and stay with her married sister for a while in Pride and Prejudice, too? My memory's a bit hazy, but I guess there's not a lot else for Austen heroines to do.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Doesn't Elizabeth Bennett go and stay with her married sister for a while in Pride and Prejudice, too? My memory's a bit hazy, but I guess there's not a lot else for Austen heroines to do.

No. None of her sisters are married at the start of the story.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

No. None of her sisters are married at the start of the story.

Well, I think there is a visit to her younger sister who eloped, after she is married, but I don't think that would match with the description in the OP.

And which one is the book where the heroine's best friend marries an ex-suitor of the heroin to escape being a spinster? There is also a visit later in the book and it becomes clear that the marriage is not a very happy one.

ETA: I think that one is Pride and Prejudice too.

[sun surfer]

Thanks pdurrant, but it's not Mansfield Park. I have read that one and I know exactly the visit you're thinking of, and it's not it. In the book I'm thinking of, the visit isn't quite so severe as that. I think it was more of a casual day visit for an hour or two, and the sister (or whoever she is) still lived a nice enough life but I just remember it seeming like her means were less than the other characters in the book and the house and furnishings weren't as impressive as could have been expected, and it could have been because of her marriage. I could be wrong, but the house could've seemed a little drab and the sister could've needed money. The people that go to visit are the main female protagonist and perhaps one other person accompanying her. The visit also wasn't as big a part of the book as the visit to Portsmouth in Mansfield Park, but unfortunately I only remember this scene by itself so it's all I have to go on.

Thanks for your suggest as well DrNefario. I've also read Pride and Prejudice but awhile ago, and I don't think that is it, as pdurrant has also confirmed. Since those are the only two Austens that I think I've read, it's probably not her. I really have no idea of the author, and it could be anyone really, but maybe Henry James (Portrait of a Lady? The Wings of the Dove?) or perhaps Dickens?

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Well, I think there is a visit to her younger sister who eloped, after she is married, but I don't think that would match with the description in the OP.

And which one is the book where the heroine's best friend marries an ex-suitor of the heroin to escape being a spinster? There is also a visit later in the book and it becomes clear that the marriage is not a very happy one.

ETA: I think that one is Pride and Prejudice too.

Hm, you posted this as I had the page already open and so I didn't see this before posting. Well now, this visit to her younger sister who eloped in Pride and Prejudice, that does sound like it could be it... Why do you think it wouldn't match?

The second book (or separate scene from the same book!) you mention also sounds like a possibility, though perhaps not as it seems like the woman I'm thinking of married young (so wouldn't have worried about becoming a spinster), and the marriage could be unhappy, but I don't remember that but rather just that they don't have as much money as would be liked. But still a possibility.


ETA - I just looked around Google and found a site I'd never heard of called WikiSummaries that have chapter-by-chapter summaries of I suppose mostly classics. Anyway, I looked at the page for Pride and Prejudice (http://www.wikisummaries.org/Pride_and_Prejudice) and searched separately for the terms "Wickham", "Lydia" and "visit" and couldn't find a chapter that included a visit to the married couple, however I did find a chapter involving a letter from a Mrs. Gardiner detailing Darcy's visit to the unmarried couple in London.

I've just downloaded the book and skimmed the chapter. It could possibly be what I'm thinking of, I'll admit, but... So many things seem different that it may be more a case of possibly forcing the wrong but similar puzzle pieces together. I would've had the London part right, and the money part right, and the age right, and the relationship to the protagonist, and that's a lot, but on the other hand, there is no "a ha, that's it!" moment and in fact the entire scene I'm thinking of wouldn't have even been there! It was only briefly mentioned in the letter of Darcy finding them whereas I recall a visit (from the main female protagonist, not just her beau) including descriptions of the house (not to mention a different name for the sister as well as her already being married and possibly with children). But again, if I've jumbled things up in my memory and no other more obvious answer arises, I do admit that this could be it!

[covingtoncat73]

Okay. I was looking up some public domain philosophy books and there was this one I read in management class. I don't know what I did with the book. I wanted to keep it but I obviously didn't.

Anyway, it is a book written by a Jesuit and old enough that it is in public domain (may not be a good PD translation, though). It *may* have 100 in the title. The prof described it as being more for middle-managers where "The Prince" was more for CEOs and gave the example that Machiavelli would say, "lie." The Jesuit guy would say, "Don't lie. You'll get caught but don't tell the whole truth, either." I remember there being some excellent, witty quotes in the book.

[hildea]

sun surfer: Could it have been Austen's "Persuasion"? Anne Elliott visits her sister Mary, who is married to Charles Musgrove. It's a long visit (several chapters). Mary is not very happy, but that's because she's vain and envious. Charles proposed to Anne first, but she wasn't in love with him, and refused him. His sister says:

"Mary is good-natured enough in many respects," said she; "but she does sometimes provoke me excessively, by her nonsense and pride--the Elliot pride. She has a great deal too much of the Elliot pride. We do so wish that Charles had married Anne instead. I suppose you know he wanted to marry Anne?"

The visit starts here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/105/1...5-h.htm#chap06

[crich70]

I'm trying to remember a who rather than the title of a book. The title is Star Trial and it concerns a man who is to be put on trial by beings from another planet for crimes he can't recall due to his memory being intentionally blocked. As I remember the main character's name is Dr. Warren Hudson or something close to that, but the one thing I can't recall is the name of the author.

[Ntsimp]

Could it be Irving A. Greenfield? He wrote a book by that name, which also has the alternative title The Stars Will Judge.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

Could it be Irving A. Greenfield? He wrote a book by that name, which also has the alternative title The Stars Will Judge.

I don't know for sure, but I think that you might have the right one. I found a description for the alternate title and it sounds right. Thanks.

[Clancey]

Hi - I read a SF book when I first started reading by choice. It was when I was 10 or 11 (62 as of this writing). I am pretty sure it was by one of the big SF writers of the era. It was about a giant multi-generation spacecraft where the passengers had forgotten they were on an Interstellar ship and had devolved to a primitive state. The hero of the story finds the bridge. It's a hazy memory, but it has bugged me for years. Any help appreciated!