The Rise of Mr. Warde - Hardcover

Sprott, Duncan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312069324 ISBN 13: 9780312069322

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1992

Synopsis

English country squire Charles Warde seems to have everything a man could want--a beautiful wife, a ravishing estate, and mountains of money--but his self-indulgence knows no bounds, something the Victorian society around him cannot accept

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

The tragicomic tale of a Victorian gentleman fallen prey to sexual lust--an eccentric and very amusing first novel, based on a true story, by an English writer. They appeared to be the quintessential English upper-class couple--Mr. Warde, a country squire whose vast estates were equaled in splendor only by his large stature and golden good looks, and Mrs. Warde, whose meek demeanor and religious fervor were all that could be required of a Victorian wife. When the countryfolk around Stratford-upon-Avon glimpsed the Wardes flying along the roads in their carriage full of blue-eyed children, they stopped to smile and wave--that is, until the first hint of unnatural goings-on surfaced in the summer of 1846. That summer the town learns that Mrs. Warde is preparing to desert her husband, and the reasons for her departure soon leave Stratford awash in outrage. As the Wardes battle viciously through a separation, divorce, and custody trial- -each paying the local commoners to testify against the other--Mr. Warde's base behavior is described in lurid detail. Accounts of his beating his wife, swearing in front of his children, refusing to attend church, and having intercourse with loose women shock the local gentry and result in the loss of Warde's wife, children, and reputation. Though Warde the Magnificent has been transformed into Warde the Infamous in the public eye, he maintains his usual genteel facade as he proceeds to take a mistress and sire three daughters with her. When the mistress in turn sues Warde for support, revealing in court his predilection for physical abuse, blasphemy, and sexual perversion, the squire seems at last done in. He takes to his bed, tended only by a scullery maid, and dies spurned and taunted by all the women of Stratford--an ignominious end for one who began life so well. For those who like their humor very dry--a bizarre literary treat. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

British author Sprott's fiction debut is a disappointment: its passable account of the social pretensions and male chauvinism of Victorian England fails to compensate for a depressing plot and insipid characters. Based on an actual figure, the narrative details the antics of the eponymous Mr. Warde, a spoiled aristocrat whose prodigal spending, lecherous adventures with local farm women and abuse of his spouse lead to financial and social ruin. The history of his privileged youth and idle adulthood as prominent local official and social arbiter neither explains nor excuses Warde's behavior. With such a sadistic, vain and crude protagonist and minor characters who seem to exist only to reinforce his worthlessness, this chronicle of the decline and fall of a "gentleman" is tedious and predictable. Long passages of witnesses' testimony in Warde's many legal battles further reduce pace and interest. Warde's ignominious end is a fitting conclusion to a wasted life--and a huge relief to the reader.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0312069324
• ISBN 13: 9780312069322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220