Fors Clavigera (1871-1884), Ruskin's serial 'Letters to the Workmen of Great Britain', is his most controversial and personal text. 'I neither wish to please, nor displease you; but to provoke you to think', Ruskin told his readers.Discursive, angry, and uncompromising, Fors is now seen as the most innovative and in many ways the most modern work of his later years. Interest in its extraordinary achievement has steadily expanded. Tim Hilton's biography identifies Fors Clavigera as 'Ruskin's masterpiece'. The lack of an accessible edition has obstructed the testing of Hilton's claim.This...

How should we understand Victorian conflict? The Victorians were divided between multiple views of the political, religious and social issues that motivated their changing aspirations. Such debates are a fundamental aspect of the literature of the period and these essays propose new ways of understanding their significance.

'She had resolved to trust in everything, and, having so trusted, she would not provide for herself any possibility of retreat.'
Lively and attractive, Lily Dale lives with her mother and sister at the Small House at Allington. She falls passionately in love with the suave Adolphus Crosbie, and is devastated when he abandons her for the aristocratic Lady Alexandrina de Courcy. But Lily has another suitor, Johnny Eames, who has been devoted to her since boyhood. Perhaps she can find renewed happiness in Johnny's courtship?
The Small House at Allington was...