Love and Mr Lewisham
A young teacher's romance derails his scientific ambitions.
Love and Mr Lewisham, subtitled 'The Story of a Very Young Couple', is a 1900 novel by H. G. Wells set in the 1880s. It was among his first fictional works outside science fiction, and Wells considered its writing a more serious undertaking than his earlier efforts. The novel closely resembles events in Wells's own life, particularly his experiences as a young teacher and student.
Quick Facts
- Author
- H. G. Wells
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Novel
- Publisher
- Harper Brothers
- Released
- 1900
- Wikisource
- Love and Mr. Lewisham
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The novel opens with Mr Lewisham, an 18-year-old teacher at a boys' school in Sussex earning forty pounds a year. He meets and falls in love with Ethel Henderson, a visitor to relatives, but his involvement with her costs him his position. Unable to find her after moving to London, the story resumes two and a half years later. Lewisham is now in his third year at the Normal School of Science in South Kensington, a socialist who declares his politics with a red tie. He attracts the interest of older student Alice Heydinger, but chance reunites him with Ethel at a séance. Her stepfather, Mr Chaffery, is a spiritualist charlatan, and Lewisham resolves to separate her from his dishonesty. They marry, forcing Lewisham to abandon his plans for a scientific career and political ascent. When Chaffery absconds to Continental Europe with embezzled money, Lewisham moves into his Clapham house to care for Ethel and her elderly mother.
Reception
Love and Mr Lewisham was well received. Charles Masterman told Wells he believed it, along with Kipps, was the novel most likely to endure. Sir Richard Gregory compared it to Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. More recent critics have also praised it: Richard Higgins notes the novel's close examination of the relationship between class and emotions, while Adam Roberts argues that Chaffery's fake séance serves as a metaphor for Wellsian engagement with sexual desire and disillusionment.
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