AustLit

Romance of an orphaned girl and a clerk made rich by his master's death. A misunderstanding separates them for three years, she working as a governess, till a conversation overheard by chance reunites them. Slight. (PB)

Set near Lyon in 1793-4, an escapee from execution during the French revolution is sheltered by a village girl and her cousin, the miller. (PB)

A fairy godmother's gift of a wish to two sisters shows their true characters, one vain, one loving. Imprisonment as a statue in a witch's house cures the vain one and she is rescued by her sister, both marrying handsome princes. Delightful fairytale. (PB).

Romance set in the USA of a generous but poor spinster reunited after 20 years with the love of her English youth when she nurses a stranger back to health. Well-written if unsurprising. (PB).

A woman gives alms to a beggar outside a US cathedral and saves him from a dreaded vow - to work! (PB).

Agatha Stainbridge leaves her property to her niece, Agatha, together with the care of a foundling, Claire. Agatha marries Ernest Fletcher who inherits a fortune - providing the rightful heir cannot be traced. Agatha learns that Claire should inherit but keeps the secret for years until brain fever reveals it. Thus she loses her husband's love and their property ... (probably) set in England. (PB).

Sentimental tale of a generous but sad lodger, a gentle mother, a young girl whose desire for a new dress fades before a poor child's misery, and the happy resolution as the lodger is reunited with his long-lost daughter. (PB).

Recalls the brutal hanging of three Tasmanian Aborigines at Port Phillip in 1841 for stealing. (PB).

Two young women just out of finishing school decide to take a house together and eschew the company of men. They soon grow bored with each other and their time is relieved by the entry of two young men - a brother and a cousin. Humorous anti-feminist piece probably set in Victoria, told through letters and journal entries (with slight reference to "Sense and Sensibility".) (PB).

Account of a race in Hammersmith between a baker in his cart pulled by a mastiff and a six-horse stage-coach. (PB).

Mark Sinclair introduces the tale from his study where Arch interrupts his attempt to write the next 'W. W.' story, and tells his own. Set in the centre of Melbourne, the tale of a forger who murders his wife and take refuge with a female accomplice in the house where she is washerwoman. A little terrier aids in his capture. [Interesting for the 'W. W.' material.] (PB)

Humorous romance between a dry-goods salesman who fancies himself in love with the unattainable Arabella until his landlady's daughter - who darned his socks and helped write his poems to Arabella - leaves for a visit to the country. (PB).

Tale of the Victorian financial crisis of 1878 and a young government clerk in Melbourne dismissed from his office on the verge of marriage. He goes to Sydney to seek work but is unsuccessful, breaks off his engagement, and is saved from ruin only by the kindness of a Melbourne friend who finds him work in his father's business. Weak style but historic interest. (PB).

On the qualities central to friendship and the relative lack of true friends. (PB).