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1Miss Grantley's Girls, and the Stories She Told Them

By Thomas Archer

The author Thomas Archer lived 1830 – 1893; he wrote several juvenile stories, and this book: <i>Miss Grantley’s Girls – And the Stories She Told Them</i>, was published in 1886. It is a book in 7 chapters. Miss Grantley is a teacher and works as a governess, and she after some coaxing tells somewhat romantic stories to "her" girls. In the first chapter it says: "There was nothing romantic in Miss Grantley's appearance, and yet she was the sort of person that you could not help looking at again and again if you once saw her. . . We found out too that she could tell stories of her own; and now and then we used to persuade her to 'spin a yarn,' as Bella Dornton, whose father had been a naval officer, used to say. . . I don't suppose that any of us will ever forget Miss Grantley's pretty parlour." So join the girls in the parlour and listen when Miss Grantley tells her stories. (Summary by Lars Rolander)

"Bare, unpicturesque, and sordid as are the conditions of poverty, there are sights in London which everybody may and should see - sights which are sometimes touched upon in newspaper articles, or in the chapters of sensational stories, but whose dread meaning and fullest horror lie in that very blank routine of misery which most lacks interest." (from the introduction.) The author exposes the underside of poverty and crime, and expresses strong opinions about its causes and possible remedies: "The repressor of the unwilling pauper is often the owner of those foul tenements which disgrace the parish ...." - Summary by (from the introduction) and Peter Yearsley

British Major Crespin, his wife Lucilla and their pilot, Dr. Traherne, survive a forced landing of their aircraft in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Rukh. Crespin blames Traherne for alienation of his wife's affection, a charge which Lucilla vehemently denies, though she does have feelings for Traherne as does he for her. But now another man enters the picture, for the Raja of Rukh intends to make Lucilla his own. The play opened in December, 1920 and was so successful that it was adapted (1922) as a novel of the same name by Louise Jordan Miln who credited the playwright, William Archer, as her co-author. The story was also produced in two films: a silent one (1923) and a "talkie" (1930). The actor George Arliss starred as the Raja in both films as well as in the original cast for the play. It is said that the executive chef of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco so admired Mr. Arliss' work that he concocted (1923) "Green Goddess" dressing in tribute. - Summary by Brian Fullen