Jacinth, Frances and Eugene Mildmay are two young sisters and brother who have been sent from relative to relative while their father and mother are stationed in India. Eventually, they are sent to live with their young, somewhat unprepared aunt in Thetford, and upon arrival, they say farewell to their much-loved uncle Marmaduke outside the gates of a charming, yet mysterious red house -- Robin Redbreast. Robin Redbreast is occupied by a lonely, yet loving widow who never had children: Lady Myrtle Goodacre. In the course of the story, Jacinth, Frances and Eugene discover a new home, and Lady Myrtle a loving family.
Mrs. Molesworth's full name was Mary Louisa Molesworth, and she authored dozens of books for young girls in the Victorian era. Heartfelt and charming, Robin Redbreast will continue to delight readers today.
Author Biography
Mary Louisa Molesworth, n e Stewart (1839 - 1921) was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs Molesworth. Her first novels, for adult readers, Lover and Husband (1869) to Cicely (1874), appeared under the pseudonym of Ennis Graham. Her name occasionally appears in print as M. L. S. Molesworth. She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809-1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810-1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879. Mrs Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879) and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece." In the judgement of Roger Lancelyn Green: "Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Bront s, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice."
