03262cam a22003733u 4500 77432 UtSlPG 20260610134808.0 m cr n 260607r20251923utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 PR Sadleir, Michael, 1888-1957 Desolate splendour Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-12-09 Tim Lindell, Laura Natal and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) "Desolate Splendour" by Michael Sadleir is a novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on Morvane, a grand but troubled English estate dominated by a sinister tower, and follows the clashing ambitions of the Plethern family—hedonistic Charles, calculating James, and their iron-willed mother Rowena—against the backdrop of a decaying neighbouring valley owned by the aloof Earl of Rockarvon. The sudden arrival of Viola Marvell, a poised Canadian orphan placed in Charles’s care, becomes a catalyst for testing desire, duty, and the family’s hunger for power and property. The opening of this novel evokes Morvane’s faded approach and its eerie campanile, “The Devil’s Candle,” with a Jacobite legend that foreshadows the family’s pride and doom. It sketches the rise of “King” Plethern, whose marriage to the frigidly controlling Rowena ends in humiliation and the birth of twins: Charles the charming rover and James the hard, ambitious strategist. After King Plethern’s death, Charles inherits; James turns to politics and the city; and Charles secretly expands Morvane while resenting the blighted Rockarvon valley he longs to possess. A backstory links Charles to Viola through her father Marvell, a brilliant Cambridge outsider who once saved Charles’s life and later died in Canada, prompting Charles to summon Viola to England. Viola’s arrival introduces a cool, self-possessed beauty who instantly unsettles old routines: she meets Lady Grieve’s kindness, Rowena’s veiled probing, and Corinne’s eager friendship. In a tense library interview, Viola reveals that her mother did not die but ran away, and when Charles’s sympathy turns too intimate she firmly reasserts herself; later, Corinne confides that Charles is a notorious “rip,” while offering Viola alliance and a way into London society. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Toronto: MacMillan, 1923 Orphans -- Fiction Inheritance and succession -- Fiction Young women -- Fiction Guardian and ward -- Fiction England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction Families -- Fiction https://archive.org/details/desolatesplendou00sadl/page/n5 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77432 118152 118152