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Sensation with a Purpose Felicia Skene, Hidden Depths (1866) Erotic Sensationalism Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower (1867)


Felicia Mary Frances Skene was born to Scottish parents in Aix-en-Provence, France, on 23 May 1821. She was the youngest of seven children. Her father, James Skene, was a cultured gentleman and member of the Scottish Bar who enjoyed literature and the arts and spent much of his leisure time sketching. A close friend of Sir Walter Scott, he figures in the fourth canto of ‘Marmion’ and in the Dedicatory Episde of Ivanhoe. Felicia’s mother, Jane Forbes, was the daughter of Sir William Forbes, sixth baronet of Pitsligo; Frances Power Cobbe described her as ‘a tall, dignified Scotchwoman, with frank and pleasant manners’. Both the Skene and the Forbes families had Jacobite connections. Through his marriage to a Miss Moir, James Skene’s father came to possess the Bible used by Charles I at the time of his execution.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction to Hidden Depths By Lillian Nayder
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    Select Bibliography of Felicia Skene By Lillian Nayder
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    Chronology of Felicia Skene By Lillian Nayder
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    Note on the Text of Hidden Depths By Lillian Nayder
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    Acknowledgements By Lillian Nayder
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    Introduction to Cometh up as a Flower By Tamar Heller
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    Bibliography of Rhoda Broughton By Tamar Heller
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    Chronology of Rhoda Broughton By Tamar Heller
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    A Note on the Text By Tamar Heller
  • Hidden Depths (1866): ‘Veritas Est Major Charitas’ 1 By Felicia Skene
    • Volume I
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        I
        The Depôt
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        II
        Colonel Courtenay
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        III
        On Board the ‘Hero’
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        IV
        The Last Night
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        V
        The Truth Revealed
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        VI
        The Promise to the Dead
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        VII
        The Last Resting-Place
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        VIII
        The Opinion of the World
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        IX
        The Search at Carleton Hall
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        X
        Lady Carleton’s Decision
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        XI
        Greyburgh
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        XII
        Dr. Granby
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        XIII
        Reginald
    • Volume II
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        I
        The Gaol
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        II
        Reginald’s History
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        III
        The Valley of the Shadow of Death
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        IV
        Annie Brook
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        V
        The Refuge
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        VI
        The Clouds Begin to Gather
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        VII
        Mrs. Dorrell
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        VIII
        The Lost Found
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        IX
        The Last Struggle
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        X
        Charity Suffereth Long, and is Kind
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    Cometh up as a Flower (1867): An Autobiography ‘Is the old mand yet alive?’ 2 By Rhoda Broughton
    • Volume I
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        Chapter I
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        Chapter II
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        Chapter III
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        Chapter IV
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        Chapter V
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        Chapter VI
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        Chapter VII
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        Chapter VIII
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        Chapter IX
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        Chapter X
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        Chapter XI
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        Chapter XII
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        Chapter XIII
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        Chapter XIV
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        Chapter XV
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        Chapter XVI
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        Chapter XVII
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        Chapter XVIII
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        Chapter XIX
    • Volume II
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        Chapter I
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        Chapter II.
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        Chapter III.
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        Chapter IV
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        Chapter V
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        Chapter VI
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        Chapter VII.
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        Chapter VIII
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        Chapter IX
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        Chapter X
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        Chapter XI
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        Chapter XII
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        Chapter XIII.
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        Chapter XIV
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        Chapter XV
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        Chapter XVI.
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        Chapter XVII.
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        Chapter XVIII.
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        Chapter XIX
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    Back Matter