The Golden Magnet, by George Manville Fenn.
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Books by George Manville Fenn are full of dreadful situations which the
reader cannot see the way out of. This one is no exception, in fact we
would easily say that it is one of his best.
Harry goes adventuring, and with him goes Tom, a young worker at Harry's
father's soap-boiling factory. Tom is wonderful. He gets Harry out of
numerous dire situations, and the book would not work without him. He
is down-to-earth, and full of commonsense and energy.
Despite all sorts of adverse conditions and persons, they get the gold,
and put everybody's affairs to rights, killing the villain, of course,
on the way. And marrying the heroine, even though she is his first
cousin.
A good example of a late nineteenth century teenager's book, and if you
like that sort of thing you will enjoy it too, for it is what used to be
called a crackingly good yarn.
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