The Manxman [Annotated with a New Introduction]

by Hall Caine, David MacWilliams (Editor)

The Christian family had always been powerful and influential on the Isle of Man, at least, that is, until Tom Christian disgraced the family by marrying a lower-class woman and dying a broken-down wreck at age thirty. His son, Philip, aims to regain all his father has lost, but finds himself in danger of repeating his father's fate when he falls in love with his cousin Pete's betrothed, a beautiful barmaid named Kate. Philip promises to look after Kate while Pete travels to South Africa in search of fortune, but as Philip and Kate's love grows, Philip will face a terrible choice. Will he betray his friend and abandon his political prospects and marry for love? Or will he sacrifice Kate to his political ambitions?

A moving and tragic tale of love, loss, and redemption, The Manxman (1894) is Hall Caine's masterpiece. Caine was the best-selling and wealthiest author of his time, his books selling in the hundreds of thousands of copies and translated into numerous languages worldwide. The Manxman went through dozens of editions and was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock before falling into neglect by the mid-twentieth century. This new edition restores this forgotten masterpiece to modern readers, and includes the text of the first edition and a new introduction and notes by David MacWilliams, as well as contextual appendices.

Genres: Fiction

670 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine CH, KBE (1853-1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was an English author. He is best known as a novelist and playwright of the late Victorian and the Edwardian eras. In his time he was exceedingly popular and at the peak of his success his novels outsold those of his contemporaries. His novels were primarily romantic in nature, involving the love triangle, but they did also address some of the more serious political and social issues of the day. Caine acted as secretary to Dante Gabriel Rossetti and at one time he aspired to become a man of letters. To this end he published a number of serious works but these had little success. A man of striking appearance, he travelled widely and used his travels to provide the settings for some of his novels. He came into contact with, and was influenced by, many of the leading personalities of the day. His best known works include: The Shadow of a Crime (1885), The Bondman (1890), The Scapegoat (1890), The Prodigal Son (1904), The White Prophet (1909) and The Woman Thou Gavest Me (1913).

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would describe The Manxman as the Isle of Man's answer to Wuthering Heights. What makes The Manxman different to WH is that this is as much of a platonic love story between two best friends as well as the traditional, unspoken longing between lovers of different social classes.

Philip, a promising young lawyer, falls deeply in love with Kate, and she with him. Unfortunately, Kate is the lowly daughter of a barkeep who by society's standards is unworthy of Phil. This is devastating not only because they love one another so much, but because they also deeply love and respect Kate's fiance Pete, a kind, hardworking sea merchant and Phil's best friend since childhood. Distance and duty keep Phil and Kate apart but their love never dwindles. Their pain is made all the harder to bear by Pete's relentless devotion to them both.

The Manxman is a vivid depiction of Victorian life on the Isle of Man, and does a brilliant job of exploring that age-old question: "What's the fine opinion of the world worth, if it means living a lie?"

Beautiful, tense and at times utterly heartbreaking, this is easily one of the best classic novels I've ever read.

TL:DR This book done broke me, y'all. Also, Pete is too precious for this world.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I am on the Isle of Man, I thought I would read as many Manx books as I can--it is too hard to get them in other places. I am reading the Manxman by Hall Caine now. It is over 100 years old, and some of the language shows its age, but it is a well-written book. For the nineteenth century, it is a real pot-boiler! Two men in love with the same woman. She loves one and marries the others. Real soap opera stuff! But I have a feeling that this is going to turn out to be a tragedy!

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Manxman is about Philip, an upcoming lawyer with a checkered family background who begins to have an affair with Kate, the barkeeper's daughter even though she is engaged to Philip's cousin and childhood friend Pete who is currently in South Africa to secure a fortune after rejected by Kate's family due to being the son of a fisherman. Even though Kate and Philip love another, they are not able to marry because Philip has political aspirations in The Isle of Mann where marrying a barmaid is not exactly part of the plan and plus he has memories of his own parents' marriage where his father who was part of the upper class of Mann, married below his station leading to a lifetime of misery for everyone involved. Things get even more complicated when Pete returns under the belief Kate still wants to marry him which she does, even though she is pregnant with Philip's child and Philip is too much of an indecisive coward because he really does not want history to repeat itself.

The book is a soap opera; there is a subplot regarding Pete being presumed dead, Kate goes into a dungeon for a shot amount of time and Philip's family history can be read as something out of Downton Abbey. Philip's ideas in obtaining Kate back are just too fantastical and much of the plot revolves on how this book takes place in the 1890s therefore Philip has a lot of reason to choose ambition over love where it does make him sympathetic even as Kate's life is falling apart due to his own actions. You do get an emphasis on how the class structure works in this book as everyone is governed by it, even someone like Philip who at first glance is believed to have a little bit of freedom due to his higher status. Kate I find just as fascinating as she is the one who is tied by her station and her sex where it does place her in prison for a short while. Perhaps if she was married earlier in the story, her situation would have a different outcome as several widows are mentioned towards having a respectable status even for a time period where being a single woman provided economic limitations.

While the language the Manxman was a tough for me to sit through, I loved how it gives you a window to the Isle of Mann. The island appears to be gorgeous, quaint, people are living their own lives where its filled with a culture of its own outside of the United Kingdom. There is a love for this island in the book where it makes much of the book admirable in its endeavor in showcasing the island through a time period defying traditions had consequences.

I really wish Goodreads had half ratings as I honestly would give a 2.75 where a 2 makes it appear that I hated it and a 3 would be I was making it something it wasn't. If there wasn't a pandemic, I probably would not have gone through so much trouble in finding this book but I am glad I looked for it and placed my own judgement on it instead of taking what Wikipedia said as gospel and went about my day.

[Vicious Circle · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE GIST:
Set on the Isle of Man, two cousins, both conceived in shame, become involved with a comely young maiden.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this but I felt it started getting repetitive towards the end in an effort to keep the suspense going. Pete (or Peat, as he spells his own name incorrectly) was a well-drawn character and I felt for him. Kate as well. Philip's morals were touching at first, but became infuriating--especially when Kate was the only person truly paying the price for them. He left her in prison for 7 weeks (granted, he made sure she got the nicest cell!), while he went back and forth with his conscience.

I also didn't understand why he takes her in when he finds out she has a child that is his and then he doesn't want her to bring the child. Then what's the poinnnntttt? And he's hiding her basically in an attic. How is this sustainable?

Fun read, but would've loved a little editing and a couple plot points to be more plausible. I do want to see the Isle of Man now. Seems like they have a lot of gorse. It's mentioned about every tenth page. Ha.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hall Caine is revered in the Isle of Man so I decided to read one of his best known books. The story was quite compelling and even racy for the time but the old fashioned language was an obstacle. Glad I've read it as I enjoyed the Manx cultural references but probably won't attempt one of Caine's books again.

[Terrie Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book, so sad in the end though.

[Bettie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlGOs...

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

[Berna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good with quite complex characters but it was too long.