Rogue Herries

This is the first volume in a series of four tracing the fictional Herries family over the period of time between the 18th and the 20th centuries. Francis Herries, called Rogue because of his wild behavior, brings his son David, his wife Margaret, and his mistress Alice Press (who is actually the family's governess) from London to the long-abandoned family estate in Cumberland County, England. Having married out of pity more than love and now growing tired of the demanding Alice, Herries lives a life of dissipation. Margaret dies, his children grow up and marry, and then he is introduced to Mirabell Starr, a beautiful woman who is living with gypsy thieves. They marry, but she is, ironically, as wild as the young Rogue Herries was, and she leaves him. He spends years searching Europe for her, and finally finds her and convinces her to return with him. She becomes pregnant and both she and Francis die on the day she delivers their newborn daughter. Walpole's high Romance is handsomely developed and he writes with great energy and imagination. The opening chapter captures the reader's interest completely, and the scene in which Herries is brought to Mirabell by the thieves is very good. It's the best of the Herries novels, and one of Walpole's most solid creations.

The Herries clan is covered by Walpole, focusing on Francis Herries, who has mood swings which one would treat with drugs today, but was let loose on the Lake District in the late 1700's. His estate, family, trials and tribulations make for an interesting novel.This was the first Walpole book I read, mostly because "Rogue Herries" was mentioned in Monty Python's Cheese Shop sketch. I was very happy with my decision to pick up the novel, however, as it made for an interesting period study of a desolate region of England. This is one of Walpole's series of novels featuring the Herries family.