If you are troubled by an excess of coincidence to the extent that it ruins your enjoyment of the reading of novels then stay away from Lord Lytton. I’m not so I can enjoy the uncanny neatness with which the dramatis personae are linked. In ‘What will he do with it’ a late novel though they start out not being aware of it all the characters are blood relations. There are no six degrees of separation in Lytton world. Does it matter? Not at all. It is the counterpoint of character that that supplies the narrative harmony. Counterpart drama is an ancient narrative device that never fails to engage. Theatre is a theme central to this novel, an ancient disabled actor and the juvenile lead, his grand daughter the theatrical phenomenon. The scoundrel son who wished to use his relationship to this child from his father in law. That Lord who has a faithful retainer is a man whose belief in the sacredness of lineage that must be preserved from pollution guides his whole life. His scoundrel son in law threatens to ruin the carefully curated image of nobility and must be bought off, sent to Australia, somewhere anywhere away from the ancient site of righteousness. This vile interloper relative has his own guardian nemesis who prevents him with sublime passive aggressiveness. Incidentally another one of the great bad women that crop up in Lytton. One loves the glee in which he delineates their gifts used in the pursuit of torment. That Rosina Wheeler the Irishwoman he married is an inspiration requires no great perspicuity to divine. A very talented woman who wrote novels herself. Turning up at one of his election meetings, crying ‘make way for the wife of the member’ she gained access to the platform and started to traduce him. Was it at that point she accused him of brothel creeping and unnatural relations with Benjamin Disraeli? He contrived to have her locked up in an insane asylum after this episode though they never divorced from the fear of valid counter accusations that would flow from a court case.
It’s a good but very very long read. The plot could be a special subject for the quiz show ‘Mastermind’. Don’t let that deter you. Be one of those six people in the reading world.
