Miss Cayley's Adventures - Grant Allen

Grant Allen was a happy discovery courtesy of a Penguin compendium of Victorian women in crime, I read An African Millionaire last year and loved it so was delighted to get 'Miss Cayley's Adventures' at Christmas (it's also available free as an ebook from project Gutenberg). Miss Cayley started life in The Strand magazine and this book is a series of almost independent short stories which loosely come together as a novel originally published in 1899.

Lois Cayley finds herself freshly graduated from Girton, utterly bereft of family, and with no greater means than two pence to her name. She is however a remarkably resourceful as well as attractive young woman so she sets off to travel the world working on the theory that one can be alone and flat broke anywhere so one might as well make it somewhere new and interesting.

In her first adventure she fall in with a cantankerous old lady who knew her father - the old lady happens to be in need of a companion to escort her to a German spa so Lois seizes the day and offers her services. En route she foils an attempt to steal the old ladies diamonds. Having increased her fortune to £2 and found herself in Germany, Lois is well on her way to adventures which will take her to Switzerland selling bicycles, Florence working as a secretary, Egypt as a journalist, India as the tiger hunting guest of a maharajah (this is my favourite episode) and back to England again to prove the innocence of the man she loves. 

Lois is an engaging heroine, she's the athletic as well as the academic sort, and her cycling and rowing abilities are just as useful in her adventures as her knowledge of maths and chemistry. She has her limitations - the tiger episode is so funny because it's sheer dumb luck that saves the day, but basically she's one of the most able and amusing heroines you're likely to find in fiction. Mostly this is light reading intended to be funny  but Allen makes some interesting points which have nothing to do with humour at all.

Most obvious is that his Miss Cayley is such a capable girl. Nothing defeats her, not tigers, not con artists, not loneliness, and most definitely not poverty but there is a price to be paid for this adventurous lifestyle. When stuck in the witness box her unfeminine behaviour is used against her and we have to wonder how she'll save the situation - save it she does. 

Even more interesting to me though is Allen, and Miss Cayley, on the subject of race - for all the books I read from this period, and all the casual racism therein, this is the first time I've seen it discussed and challenged - specifically with reference to India. It's made clear that nigger is a term of abuse and a word no lady should be comfortable using and Allen takes the time to expose the double standard that operates in the attitude the English display towards their Indian hosts along with a complete and inexcusable lack of respect. 

Funny, interesting, and free if you read it electronically - what's not to love.   

An African Millionaire - Grant Allen

The weather continues to be pretty grim, I've been out in the country for a couple of days where at least the rain has made the everything look perky and green, but back in the city the tiny green patch in the car park outside my window has been weeded. There is one lonely tree and something spiky left and as they whip around in the wind whilst rain spatters the window it's not a very cheerful picture. It's possible that the prospect of being back at work tomorrow combined with an overdose of Easter chocolate this afternoon are contributing to a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the world, that and I've just finished a really enjoyable book and wasn't quite ready to leave it.

I came across Grant Allen in 'The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime', it was such a good short story that I added a couple of titles to my wish list and bought a 'An African Millionaire' a couple of weeks ago (at bonus time - very dangerous moment). The copy that arrived is a lovely floppy American paperback, I was lucky to get it, it now shows as only available for pre order or available for Kindles but I really hope that when it gets its official UK launch it gets some attention. Everything about this book is a treat. I love the cover design for the Penguin classic crime series, especially the use of matt and shiny finishes to differentiate light from dark. The story is good (more of that later) but the authorial voice is the thing. 

I'm not sure how a 'Classic' is officially defined, the ever expanding list of rediscovered 'lost classics' muddy the waters somewhat and the idea of an accepted, relatively static, canon begins to look ridiculous. For me personally what makes a book stand out from the vintage heard is the freshness of it's tone, when something makes me think how little, rather than how much, has changed it generally feels like it should be a classic. 'An African Millionaire' whilst being very much of it's time has that freshness. 

First serialised in 'The Strand' magazine in 1896 'An African Millionaire' has been widely regarded as the first to feature a criminal protagonist, literature's first gentleman rogue (or so it says on the back blurb). Actually there are three rogues - Seymour Wentworth the narrator who is a worldly man quite willing to put his own interests first, and not above pulling a fast one on his boss, and brother in law, Sir Charles Vandrift the African millionaire of the title. Sir Charles has the golden touch in business and seemingly no scruples at all, if non of his actions are specifically illegal most of his business dealings are of questionable morality if not specifically dishonest - and then there's his nemesis Colonel Clay, master of disguise and international con man.

Colonel Clay has it in for Sir Charles Vandrift and is making it his mission to remove as much of the millionaires money from him as possible. If there's a hero it's Clay, but as hero's go he's not entirely satisfactory - he's to shadowy a figure, not even present in all the chapters. Wentworth is easier to relate to,  he has his faults (a willingness to be bribed) but as the poor relation working for an unpleasant man it's hard not to sympathise with his little fiddles. Seeing Sir Charles through eyes that are partly tolerant of his practices makes the books pay off more effective - this is that if a rogue cheats a rogue he must still be punished regardless of who is the greater scoundrel. 

The action moves from Monte Carlo to Switzerland, London to New York, Germany to Scotland and spans a good few years. As colonel Clay successfully swindles Sir Charles of ever more money, Sir Charles becomes ever more paranoid until he suspects everyone around him, there are embarrassing scenes where he thinks he's about to close in on his man only to find he's clapped handcuffs on an innocent (and indignant) victim. Eventually though the Colonels luck begins to run out and a showdown seems inevitable...

This is an attempt to show the shiny cover.

Allen doesn't like his millionaires at all making this a timely reissue in the wake of the occupy movement, more importantly though it's a very funny book full of smart (if not entirely unforeseen) twists with an eye for detail. There is a bit more Allen in print and I'll be scouring Victorian anthologies for his short stories, I just wish I had more to hand because he turned out to be just the thing for lifting my current mood.