Robert Elsmere charts a young Anglican clergyman's passage from orthodox belief to an ethical, theistic creed shaped by historical criticism and social work. From a Lakeland marriage to the devout Catherine to Oxford salons and London's East End, Ward stages exacting debates on miracles, scripture, and science. Her disciplined realism-dialogue-heavy, psychologically acute, and topographically precise-anchors the novel in the post-Darwinian crisis of faith, in conversation with George Eliot and with the controversies sparked by Strauss and Renan. Writing as Mrs. Humphry Ward, Mary Augusta Ward drew on Oxford's intellectual milieu: niece of Matthew Arnold, wife of journalist-don Thomas Humphry Ward, and an assiduous reader of German theology. Her philanthropic engagement and early settlement work sharpened her sense of urban need, while a family history of shifting confessions honed her interest in conscience and authority. These pressures shape Robert's crisis and the novel's claim that Christianity endures as moral practice. Essential for students of Victorian religion and the novel of ideas, Robert Elsmere rewards readers who relish rigorous debate fused with humane storytelling. Read it for its intellectual candor, ethical urgency, and vivid mapping of belief's modern trials.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
