Publisher's Synopsis
This is a romantic tale of unrequited love on the beautiful and dangerous landscape of Dartmoor in Devon, England, around the close of the nineteenth century. A spirited, young girl, Beatrice Pentreath, adores perfection in nature and is obsessed with the witchcraft, superstition and folklore of her ancestors in Cornwall. She is quietly pursued by a scholarly, 35-year old bachelor, recluse named John Burrough. Beatrice lives in a fantasy world that John is intrigued by and participates in as the two explore the ancient secrets of the moors together. Their mutual interest in the natural world leads to a tragic event that shatters their relationship and demolishes John's chances as her potential lover. He desperately seeks to overcome their separation and win back her affections. Comic interludes are provided through several rural characters from a small village. Mr Yeoland is an old vicar who flirts with youthful Beatrice. A simple butter-maker, Ann Cobbledick, who is Beatrice's landlady and the parish gossip, is determined to secure a tombstone for herself without paying the granite merchant, Rubert Eastaway, for it. Ann's unemployed loaf of a son, Willum, is another amusing character who fails miserably to conceal his educational ignorance. Interwoven with the story of the two lovers and their country neighbors are several Cornish folktales and a journey across the West Country that is reminiscent of a picturesque travelogue. A Pixy in Petticoats was the first novel of Ernest George Henham to be a commercial success. There are many elements in it that foreshadow the greatness of his Dartmoor trilogy: Furze the Cruel, Heather, and Granite. This edition of A Pixy in Petticoats includes detailed annotations about the many Biblical, Classical, historical and geographical references in the book.
