William Harrison Ainsworth (1805–1882)

Good to be reminded that popular acclaim and best-sellerdom in one’s own time rarely equate with long term critical esteem. Ainsworth is definitely no Dickens. Best parts of the novel are the descriptions of the plague and the fire, cribbed, one gathers, from Defoe and his contemporary sources. The paper-thin plot concerns two unrelated women whose virtue is threatened by two noblemen; the combination of titillation and faux shock and outrage is quite off-putting. Writing style is overblown and character development non-existent. Only saving grace was that my edition had wonderful contemporary illustrations by John Franklin.… (meer)

It wasn't really what I expected. I expected the protagonist to be a devout Catholic who will stop at nothing to remain true to the Church as he understands it. I'm not sure how devout he actually is, and he is willing to stop at nothing, including digging into the occult, seeking assistance of wizards and magic potions, to see that he is on the path to restore he holy religion.

Add to that the female lead Viviana, who has a THIRSTY boy running after her, even though she wants to leave England and go to Belgium to be a nun. At every turn even the priest tries to stop her and get her to marry Courtland instead.

Makes me thing Ainswroth is just some Protestant who wants to make the Catholic Conspirators look bad.… (meer)