Other editions of book Sylvia's Lovers

The novel begins in the 1790s in the coastal town of Monkshaven (modeled on Whitby, England) against the background of the practice of impressment during the early phases of the Napoleonic Wars. Sylvia Robson lives happily with her parents on a farm, and is passionately loved by her rather dull Quaker cousin Philip. She, however, meets and falls in love with Charlie Kinraid, a dashing sailor on a whaling vessel, and they become secretly engaged. When Kinraid goes back to his ship, he is forcibly enlisted in the Royal Navy by a press gang, a scene witnessed by Philip. Philip does not tell Sylvia of the incident nor relay to her Charlie's parting message and, believing her lover is dead, Sylvia eventually marries her cousin.

A very powerfully moving novel of a young woman caught between the attractions of two very different men, Sylvia’s Lovers is set in the 1790s in an English seaside town. England is at war with France, and press-gangs wreak havoc by seizing young men for service. One of their victims is a whaling harpooner named Charley Kinraid, whose charm and vivacity have captured the heart of Sylvia Robson. But Sylvia’s devoted cousin, Philip Hepburn, hopes to marry her himself and, in order to win her, deliberately withholds crucial information—with devastating consequences.The introduction discusses the novel's historical and geographical authenticity, as well as its innovative treatment of gender and human relationships

Documentation for the TextInfo template.information about this edition. Sister Projects.sister projects: Wikidata item.Sylvia's Lover is one the least known novels of Elizabeth Gaskell, first published weekly in Cornhill magazine in 1863. The story revolves around Sylvia Robson and the two men in her life: Philip, her cousin -and later, her husband, and Charlie Kinraid, the one she fell in love with.