Cloister and the Hearth, Volume III "The Cloister and the Hearth" is Charles Reade's greatest work--and, I believe, the greatest historical novel in the language. . . . "One can only say that this great writer--there is no greater praise--paints women as they are, men as they are, things as they are. What we call genius is first the power of seeing men, women, and things as they are--most of us, being without genius, are purblind--and then the power of showing them by means of "invention"--by the grafting of "invention" upon fact. No man has shown greater power of grasping fact and of weaving invention upon it than Charles Reade." -- from Walter Besant's introduction

Author Biography

Charles Reade (1814 - 1884) was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth. In 1861 Reade published what would become his most famous work, based on a few lines by the medieval humanist Erasmus about the life of his parents. The novel began life as a serial in Once a Week in 1859 under the title "A Good Fight," but when Reade disagreed with the proprietors of the magazine over some of the contentious subject matter (principally the unmarried pregnancy of the heroine), he abruptly curtailed the serialization with a false happy ending, Reade continued to work on the novel, and published it in 1861, thoroughly revised and extended, as "The Cloister and the Hearth." It became recognized as one of the most successful historical novels. Returning from the 15th century to modern English life, he next produced Hard Cash (originally published as Very Hard Cash, 1863), in which he highlighted the abuses of private lunatic asylums. Three more such novels followed: Foul Play (1869), in which he exposed the iniquities of ship-knackers and paved the way for the labors of Samuel Plimsoll; Put Yourself in His Place (1870), in which he dealt with trade unions and A Woman-Hater (1877), in which he continued his commentary on trade unions while also tackling the topic of women doctors.