Dead Men's Shoes

Escaping "Helpless Poverty" in Safety-Net-less Victorian England: Mary Elizabet…

(5 stars)

susan smith nash

Victorian England was a time of industrialization and social change, which brought prosperity to some, and the end of traditional livelihoods to others. Social and income inequality created a huge chasm, the spectre of which inspired true dread because it could mean falling into wretched poverty and social oblivion. Secrets, masks, deception, and deeply buried pasts with all their convoluted relationships lurked at the fringe, always threatening to destabilize an individual or a family, and cast them downward in social and economic hierarchies. This was writer Mary Elizabeth Braddon's world, and her special perspective was one that plunged deep beneath the surface to explore the fear, greed, treachery, and longing of Victorians with secrets. Braddon, born in 1835 and dying in 1915, lived in the latter part of Queen Victoria's reign, and also into Edwardian English. English Braddon's world was marked by the transformational magic of technology (transportation and manufacturing, in particular) which created opportunities for people to disguise themselves and their identities in order to achieve their desires. In Braddon's world, one could be "transported" to Australia, escape, and return to avenge oneself, or go to India to become either a nabob or at least someone capable of approximating one in the eyes of the English who did not leave. But, above all, the yawning chasm of poverty could be encountered at almost every step. Women were most vulnerable. There were quite a few ways to fall into the chasm of sickness, poverty, and social isolation. For women, if one did not marry, and marry well, a live of grinding servitude awaited. There were more ways to earn one's own living, but still there were not many, and of those, many carried the unpleasant miasma of social opprobrium. If you were a woman and from a "gentle" class, you could become a governess and slowly starve. You might start a small school for young women. Or, you could scandalize yourself and "tread the boards" (become an actress), write salacious novels (hoping for best-sellers in three-volume sets), become an artist or musician, or, lower yourself and start small shops or tea rooms. Or, you could involve yourself in intricate plots to capture the heart of someone who might leave you a legacy. Before reading Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Dead Men's Shoes (1876), I really did not know what the term meant. Basically, hoping for a "dead man's shoes," means to become a vulture and hover around, waiting for someone to die so you can take their shoes and wear them. Mary Elizabeth Braddon captures the fear, social humiliation, and desperation of people living on the margins of gentility. In Dead Men's Shoes, the heroine, Sibyl Faunthorpe, who has made an unwise marriage to an impecunious but kind-hearted and creative gentleman, is literally starving even as she is about to give birth to she and her husband's child. The desperate need to do whatever she can is what forms the motivation for what appears to be greed of truly staggering proportions. The plot is absorbing and quite complicated, but to summarize, she returns to her childhood home where she was raised by her uncle, the local physician, and with her two younger sisters. Sibyl arrives, concealing her marriage (and the fact she has just given birth) to try to ingratiate herself to her uncle who has recently returned, elderly and in poor health, from India. He he presumed to be wealthy magnate of a shipping company, and she is eager to be the legatee. By all appearances, he is truly a spectacularly wealthy tycoon, albeit a skin-flint. The husband, abandoned, but still in love, tries to find her, but eventually gives up and goes to Australia where he is a successful agent for a trading company. Eventually he returns to find that he has inherited an estate. Sibyl, of course, does not know this. She is trying to ingratiate herself and inherit her uncle's millions, hovering and hoping for a quick decline of health. In the meantime, she pays someone to take care of her little baby, who is quickly growing into toddlerhood. Sibyl believes her enterprise is worthwhile because if she achieves her end -- the dead man's shoes -- she and her husband will be reunited, she will reveal that they had a little boy, and all will be nirvana, particularly with the balm of the peculiar and unpleasant old uncle's money. If the avarice in this scenario seems preposterous, it seemed so to others who found out about her plans. And, it did not help that the rich uncle dies of cyanide poisoning, and Sibyl has, coincidentally taken a vial of the stuff from her uncle's pharmacy. And, the dead man's shoes turn out to be worn out at the end of the day. He died almost penniless; and was banking on the bit of money he wrested from his illegitimate son back in India, and his reputation and fame for credit from the local shopkeepers. I won't go into details, but there is a very happy ending for all (almost all), or at least the promise of one. And, before you dismiss Braddon as a sensation novelist of over-the-top hyperbole, I'd like to mention that her ability to portray psychological depths and to show the complexity of heart, mind, and conflicting views of society is quite stunning. She also creates a role for the pure of heart and the individuals who cling to a vision of relationships and reality that rewards the stalwart and good of heart. In addition to the psychological realism, the description of the social milieu gives incredible insight into the details of life in Victorian England at basically every level of society. In addition, one sees just how times of rapid technological change impact all levels, and while the disruptions create opportunities for others, the close doors and engender desperation in others.

(4 stars)

Elaine

My ninth book from ME Braddon and apart from The Doctors Wife which I didn’t finish, I think this is my least favourite so far because it takes too long to get to the point; the story is more about the lives of the upper class with their parties and horses and seeking rich husbands, and switches backwards and forwards from Alexis to Sybil and their lives: The last 10 chapters are the best and the novel could have been shorter; good readers with Judi mason being my favourite

Intriguing

(4 stars)

Seema Afridi

I found this book irritating and intriguing at the same time. Some how it was difficult to find sympathy for the protagonists and the blatant materialism that enveloped almost every character. There were ineffectual traces of Tess and terrible racism. I would leave the book and then come back to it to learn what had happened to the characters. Finally complete and done with.

(5 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

What a wonderful romance story. The author keeps you interested u till the end. I love Mary Elizabeth Braddon's books. Now days books not loaded with sex, violence, and swearing are my type of stories. Thank you lLibrevox

(4 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Long but very enjoyable listen. Majority of readers are good, but would have been better had there been a single narrator

(4 stars)

Ms. Elizabeth

story line drags a bit but overall a good story. amazing ability to forgive is what I got from this.

Beautiful Story

(5 stars)

Lynn G

Really loved this one,a beautiful laid out story,Alexis's character ,enduring love and kindness is amazing.

(5 stars)

Katie c

Excellent story! The volunteers did a great job with the reading. Thank you!!