Deerbrook, by Harriet Martineau.
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Harriet Martineau was the daughter of a Norwich textile manufacturer of
Huguenot descent--hence the name and trade. In 1829 the bank in which
she, her mother and her sisters, had placed their money, failed and she
was forced to earn a living through writing, at which she was very
talented, particularly on political issues, such as the poverty facing a
family on the death of the wage-earner. In 1839, after her travels in
America, she wrote two long novels, of which Deerbrook was one, and a
book about Toussaint L'Ouverture the other.
This book, therefore gives great insight into the lives of upper middle
class families of the mid nineteenth century. No one in families these
days talks to the rest of the family in the polite, perhaps over-polite,
terms used in this book. For this reason, though it was not meant to be
taken as such, this book is a true social document.
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DEERBROOK, BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.