Ormond - A Tale Book

A great early nineteenth-century episodic novel of an orphan boy's rise to the upper classes, in the tradition of Tom Jones, Joseph Andrews et al. The eponymous Harry Ormand is raised side-by-side with the son of the local lord, Sir Ulick O'Shane; his low-birth, however, keeps him from developing the haughty, dismissive manner of the natural son of O'Shane, Marcus. Harry also spends extended periods of time with O'Shane's somewhat feral first cousin, the self-style King of the Black Islands, Cornelius, whose demense is something akin to an ancient, pre-Christian Irish fiefdom. "King Corny" rules as a benificent despot, quick to action (right or wrong), but equally fast in apologising and making ammends for his errors.

This Pegnuin Classics edition illustrated isn't the one I picked up one Sunday a few months ago from the two-dollar carts outside a Fourth Avenue shop. I found a 1903 Macmillian edition that was illustrated. Already almost a hundred-years old when this edition was published, it's my first Edgeworth. I must admit, I bought it for sentimental reasons, as she lived most of her life just a few miles from the town where I was born in the Irish Midlands. Maria Edgeworth was a heroine to and contemporary of Jane Austen; need I say more?