The Pillars of the House; Or, Under Wode, Under Rode, Vol. 1 (of 2)
1873
The Pillars of the House; Or, Under Wode, Under Rode, Vol. 1 (of 2)
1873
In a narrow Victorian house loud with children, eleven-year-old Felix Underwood receives a gold sovereign from his mysterious godfather, Admiral Chester and faces a choice that reveals the soul of his family. Should he buy the cricket bat he's wanted for years, or use the money to buy shoes for his sisters, whose worn footwear threatens their place at a formal dinner? The opening pages burst with the chaos and warmth of a large household: brothers tumbling up the stairs, sisters in a 'pyramid' of petticoats, parents who manage love and poverty in equal measure. Felix chooses sacrifice, and from this small act, an entire novel unfolds. Charlotte M. Yonge, the beloved author of The Little Princess, constructs a world where 'pillars' are not stone but people: the brothers and sisters who hold each other up through financial strain, social climbing relatives, and the slow accumulation of character. This is Victorian domestic fiction at its most alive, full of real children who squabble and adore each other in the same breath. For readers who believe the novel of family is the novel of everything.
