The Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete
1859
George Meredith's first novel scandalized Victorian England, and reading it now, you can see why. Sir Austin Feverel has devised an elaborate system to raise his son Richard according to principles of sexual restraint and rational control, a methodology born from Sir Austin's own disastrous marriage. The system is a mirror of his obsession, and Richard, approaching manhood, must either submit to his father's experiment or destroy himself trying to break free. What follows is a tragedy of good intentions curdling into cruelty, of love and desire ruining what they meant to protect. Meredith weaves psychological depth with mythic resonance, the Garden of Eden, utopian ideals, into a narrative that's as intellectually daring as it is emotionally devastating. The prose crackles with satirical precision while never losing sight of the human cost at its center. This is a novel about what happens when a parent tries to engineer a soul.
