Marian Bower

I do love an old novel. The first 50 pages is devoted to Paynton's father's rise to wealth from as low as it goes. Josiah was made to sell cat's meat from a basket lashed to his body from the time he could walk. Josiah exhibits an extra-ordinary rise in fortune, but his personal expectations remain low - he knows his place in a world that knows it too. His one wish is that his son be raised a gentleman, so he enlists the help of the schoolteacher, Mr. Wexby, who always steers him right. And in order not to embarass his son terribly, he takes deportment lessons from Mr. Wexby as well.
You'd think the son would be ashamed of the crude father, and Paynton does admit that feeling once or twice, but he never allows that to stand in the way of honoring his father properly.

Paynton goes in for politics, and it's apparent he has inherited some good sense from his father. He's a very likable character. Will he break the glass ceiling and win the hand of a lady?

There is an unexpected piqancy to this story. I won't spoil it by telling too much here.

Worth the read.… (altro)