Hard cover book. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel Author: George Meredith Publisher: Archibald Constable & Co Ltd Date: 1909 Further Information: Red cloth hardcover with lettering and patterning to spine in gilt. The spine has a Library label with an inscription.fictionThe Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) was George Meredith's first full-length novel. Its subject is the relationship between a cruelly manipulative father and a son who loves a girl of a lower social class, with both men self-deluded and proud, and the story ending tragically. The story's theme is that Sir Austin Feverel, after his wife's departure, becomes a strict and misogynistic figure who imposes a rigid educational 'System' meant to raise the 'perfect' son, shielded from female influence, until Richard turns twenty-five. Richard nonetheless falls for Lucy Desborough, a farmer's niece, defying his father's plans, and the novel follows the fallout, including a scheme by Sir Austin's friend Lord Mountfalcon to have a courtesan seduce Richard, Richard's flight abroad, his return, a duel with Mountfalcon in which he is badly wounded, and Lucy's death after losing her mind from the shock. The novel was drawn from painful personal experience: in 1856, Meredith's wife Mary began an affair with the artist Henry Wallis and, having become pregnant by him, she left the following year, abandoning her young son, whom Meredith raised himself.shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, warrnambool, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, shipwrecked-artefact, book, pattison collection, warrnambool library, warrnambool mechanics’ institute, ralph eric pattison, corangamite regional library service, warrnambool city librarian, mechanics’ institute library, victorian library board, warrnambool books and records, warrnambool children’s library, the ordeal of richard feverel, george meredith