Author:
Title: Euthanasia Or Turf, Tent and Tomb.
Description: London, Routledge 1893. Octavo publisher's illustrated glazed boards (rubbed with wear to edges and hinges). Certainly read but a very decent, even proper, copy. ¶ First edition, yellowback issue. It was also issued in cloth at a higher price. A title for every reader; the cover of this romantic thriller might convince us that is a book for the horsey set but what is that monk doing on the field? Newcastle University attributes this to E.W. Hornung. What did their librarian know that no-one else does? If true then Hornung has masterfully assumed the style of a less polished author who seems expert in the daily routine of an English officer in the Austrian cavalry. What shines through here is that the aristocracy must be judged by different standards to the rest of us. The hero, the poor younger brother Lord George, is seen as the "soul of honour and loyalty and truth" by all around him while he behaves appallingly by lower class standards. The Euthanasia of the title is indirect, by way of expiation, but I guess it is there. The rest of the title takes place in England, Hungary and Naples. Despite its inclusion in Hubin this is not crime fiction, there is no murder here except of ethics.

Keywords: literature fiction c19th England yellowbacks