Hidden Hand
1859
On a stormy Halloween night in the Virginia mountains, the notorious Major Ira Warfield, known to all as 'Old Hurricane', receives a midnight summons that will unravel his darkest secrets. But the true heart of this gothic masterpiece is Capitola Black, a sharp-witted girl who has survived by dressing as a boy and living among street urchins, because in 1850s America, a girl can starve while a boy can find work. When her wealthy guardian discovers her, Capitola is transplanted to the palatial but suffocating Hurricane Hall, where she finds herself 'decomposing above ground for want of having my blood stirred.' She won't stay still for long. Bandits, true loves, evil schemers, long-lost mothers, kidnap attempts, and thunderous confrontations await. Southworth, the most popular novelist of her era, created a character so beloved that this book was serialized three times and dramatized forty times. Capitola is pure adrenaline: clever, daring, and unapologetically alive in a world that offers women nothing. This is adventure fiction with a rebel at its center.
Editions
X-Ray
“Now, my dear Cap, if you don’t look sharp your hour is come! Nothing on earth will save you, Cap, but your own wits! For if ever I saw mischief in any one’s face, it is in that fellow’s that is eating you up with his great eyes at the same time that he is laughing at you with his big mouth! Now Cap, my little man, be a woman! ””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“Catch me coming to my senses, when it's so delightful to be mad. I'm too sharp for that.””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“Freedom and peace is even sweeter than wealth and honors.””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“Now, the soul of Capitola naturally abhorred sentiment. If ever she gave way to serious emotion, she was sure to avenge herself by being more capricious than before.””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“I wonder how long they'll keep me here? Forever, I hope. Until I get cured. I hope they won't cure me; I vow I won't be cured. It's a great deal too pleasant to be mad, and I'll stay so.””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“Fie on it! Cowardice is worse than death!””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“And no sooner had Cap been commanded, if she valued her safety, not to cross the water or climb the precipice than, as a natural consequence, she began to wonder what was in the valley behind the mountain and what might be in the woods across the river. And she longed, above all things, to explore and find out for herself.””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“gentle admonition." "Gentle admonition! Do you call that gentle admonition? Why, uncle, you are enough to frighten most people to death with your fury. You are a perfect dragon! a griffin! a Russian bear! a Bengal tiger! a Numidian lion! You're all Barnum's beasts in one! I declare, if I don't write and ask him to send a party down here to catch you for his museum!””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
“You are like the angel in Cole's picture of life! You point the youth to the far-up temple of fame-""And leave him to get there as he can? Not at all, madam!””
— Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read Hidden Hand by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read Hidden Hand by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2Cite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte. Hidden Hand. Lex, lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2.Southworth, E. D. E. N. (1859). Hidden Hand. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte. Hidden Hand. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/hidden-hand-1925842f-38ea-484d-ac28-6b01db71a2c2.
