Suspense

Theo Trist and Brenda Gilholme have known one another since childhood. Trist has become a renowned war correspondent for influential newspapers in London and Paris, dispatched to dangerous areas of the globe to report on the most terrible events imaginable. Brenda, until now in the shadow of her sister, a celebrated society beauty, has lived the life of the mind, immersing herself in studies of languages, mathematics, theology, and political economy—a life which Victorian society doesn’t value for its daughters, but which Trist admires in the observant and analytical Brenda. Mrs. Wylie, a mutual friend who has supported each of them throughout their formative years, knows that their respective intelligence, and their senses of honor, duty, and self-sacrifice, set them apart from their peers and drive them to make the most of themselves. Those same strengths also divide and distance them from one another—and, as Mrs. Wylie knows, time is on no one’s side.

Suspense is one of Henry Seton Merriman’s more philosophical novels. In meta-commentary, the author makes plain his acceptance of Victorian views on social roles, expectations, and responsibilities, while also celebrating those who are courageous enough to stand apart from that society to live their own lives. Though an earlier of Merriman’s works, it still displays the intricate plotting, character development, and attention to place and history which are characteristic of his later works. Though its narrative and dialogue fit squarely within the framework of contemporary Victorian fiction, Suspense nevertheless demonstrates the best of that structure, even as Merriman shows with his subsequent works his desire and capability to rise above it.