The Cuckoo in the Nest

1891

Novel

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Volume 1   Volume 2   Volume 3      or 2nd source:   illustrated   


The Story

Old Sir Gervase Piercey is the squire of Greyshott Manor. He and Lady Piercey have one son, Gervase, who has some mental and physical challenges and is known everywhere as "the softy". He is a disappointment to his parents, and in fact is bullied by them.

Gervases's refuge is the Seven Thorns Inn, an old coaching inn in the village, where he spends his time drinking too much and admiring the innkeeper's daughter Patty Hewitt. Patty knows Gervase would marry her, and has an eye towards her own advancement - if she can make up her mind to turn down handsome Roger Pearson from the village.

Perhaps the only sympathetic character among these is Margaret Osborne ("Cousin Meg"), a young widow living with her little son at Greyshott Manor. She is treated as being of no account, and is in effect the unpaid companion to Sir Gervase and Lady Piercey, making herself useful and putting up with a great deal.

When Meg's cousin Gerald (a near heir to Greyshott after Gervase) arrives on a visit, she is surprised that the once-friendly cousin of her youth keeps her at a distance. And shortly after his arrival, things go badly wrong within the family.


British publishing information

Periodical:   Victorian Magazine   Dec 1891 - Nov 1892

First edition:   Hutchinson and Co 1892


Series and Themes

Alcoholism
Class issues in love, marriage, family
Inheritance, wills, or legitimacy issues
Mental disturbances, 'a clouded mind'
Widows


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