Absentee; Author: Edgeworth, Maria; Introduction: Thomson, Heidi; Paperback; Standard Hardcover size

Author: Edgeworth, Maria; Introduction: Thomson, Heidi
Penguin Classics; Paperback; Standard Hardcover size
320 pages
Published: January 2000
Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 0140436456

The Absentee centers around Lord and Lady Clonbrony, a couple more concerned with London society than their duties and responsibilities to those who live and work on their Irish estates. Recognizing this negligence, their son Lord Colambre goes incognito to Ireland to observe the situation and trace the origins of his beloved cousin Grace. To put matters straight he finds a solution that will bring prosperity and contentment to every level of society, including his own family.In her Introduction, Heidi Thomson explores the political and social themes of the book and places it in its historical context. With Castle Rackrent and The Absentee, Maria Edgeworth helped create the regional novel, rich in atmosphere and local character, and influenced writers as disparate as Sir WalContains a critical introduction which places the novel in its literary and political context. An Irish landlord flees from a society marriage, to return in disguise to his family estate in Ireland. Here he sets out to find a solution to his father's debts and the mismanagement of the estate. He also becomes involved in a search for the truth about his orphaned cousin Grace's past.