The Lamp in the Desert by Ethel M. Dell (1919)

I spoke too soon! This really is our FINAL Dell review (probably). Review by Daniel Grieve, an English and History student who joined us for a work placement and is now a regular member of the reading group (he wants to read more Dells!) I am afraid that, having never read anything of melodramatic fiction, when … Continue reading →

A Man Under Authority by Ethel M. Dell (1926)

Our final Dell review! Review by Helen N: Novels like those of Ethel M. Dell are not written any more, or at  any rate not published. In some ways they are more unfamiliar to us than the world of Jane Austen. There is an influence of writers such as Dickens and the Bronte sisters in … Continue reading →

The Top of the World by Ethel M. Dell (1920)

Review by George Simmers (see his Great War Fiction blog here) This is an astonishingly  melodramatic novel, with a plot that moves with such gusto from one strong emotional situation to another that you only occasionally pause to consider how very exaggerated and improbable it is. The heroine, Sylvia,  lives with her father, the Squire, … Continue reading →

The Way of an Eagle by Ethel M. Dell (1912)

Review by A Reading Group Member: In a beleaguered fort, amidst the Himalayan foothills, during the height of the British Empire, young languorous Muriel faces the prospect of death by resorting to opium. She is rescued by the irreverent Lieutenant Nick Ratcliffe, who appears to Muriel to lack the stature and nobility for such a … Continue reading →

Melodrama, Ethel M. Dell and ‘The Tosh Horse’

The reading group met last night to discuss Ethel M. Dell and other melodramatic fiction, including Mrs Henry Wood’s East Lynne (1861) and Mary Webb’s Gone to Earth (1917). Reading aloud of typical Dell descriptions – so much ‘throbbing’ and ‘seething’ – caused  a lot of laughter, but there was also astonishment, and enjoyment. Astonishment … Continue reading →

Violent sex and sexualised violence in ‘The Bars of Iron’ by Ethel M. Dell (1916)

This novel is unlike anything I have read before. It is a romance – but so violent! And this violence is so relentlessly sexualised! It seems that in a period when sex could not be overtly described, violence became a substitute. The story begins with a bar brawl in Australia (rather unexpected, that). An unnamed … Continue reading →