In the Year of Jubilee

By George Gissing

Book Overview

At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, Arthur Peachey unlocked his front door, and quietly went forth. He had not ventured to ask that early breakfast should be prepared for him. Enough that he was leaving home for a summer holiday-the first he had allowed himself since his marriage three years ago. It was a house in De Crespigny Park; unattached, double-fronted, with half-sunk basement, and a flight of steps to the stucco pillars at the entrance. De Crespigny Park, a thoroughfare connecting Grove Lane, Camberwell, with Denmark Hill, presents a double row of similar dwellings; its clean breadth, with foliage of trees and shrubs in front gardens, makes it pleasant to the eye that finds pleasure in suburban London. In point of respectability, it has claims only to be appreciated by the ambitious middle-class of Camberwell. Each house seems to remind its neighbour, with all the complacence expressible in buff brick, that in this locality lodgings are not to let.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1514870924
• ISBN13: 9781514870921
• Release Date: July 2015
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

middle-class struggles and emerging feminism..

Sad to say, most people, even those who are fans of Victorian-era literature, have probably never heard of George Gissing. Those who do know him think perhaps he was a 'one hit wonder' with New Grub Street. While New Grub Street is a brilliant read, his little known In the Year of the Jubilee (IYJ) is also a gem.On the surface, IYJ is a story common to Victorian-era novels. People are obsessed with the thought of inheriting money, making sure they are viewed as 'refined' rather than 'working class', and the notion of 'family values' is taken to an extreme. However in IYJ we finally see the emergence of the middle class, people who are in white collar jobs and who see the value in working (rather than living off of someone else's fortune). And most shocking for a Victorian novel, the most forceful character is a young woman who actually seeks out work to keep her life interesting (and not depend on her estranged husband).IYJ is well-written, thought-provoking without being preachy, and should be held in esteem on par with the works from James, Eliot, Wharton and, indeed, other works from George Gissing.