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The Passionate Friends

H. G. Wells

103 ratings
The Passionate Friends | H. G. Wells

The Passionate Friends

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The Passionate Friends is a love story. It also is a story about dreams, despair, jealousy, sex, the struggle against social convention, the future of civilization, and much much more. It is written by a father to his son, "not indeed to the child you are now, but to the man you are going to be." He writes it so that one day, perhaps when he is dead, his grown son can read it and rediscover him as a friend and equal. In the process, he tries to make sense of a lifetime's experiences and distill some kind of wisdom from them. It is quite simply a beautiful book, both inspiring and heartbreaking.
the misty bloom upon the turf, and the ragged, filmy carpet of gossamer on either hand, of the warm wetness of every little blade and blossom and of the little scraps and seeds of grass upon my soaking and discolored boots. Our footsteps were dark green upon the dew-grey grass. And I feel the same hungry freshness again at the thought of those stolen meetings. Presently came the sunrise, blinding, warming, dew-dispelling arrows of gold smiting through the tree stems, a flood of light foaming over the bracken and gilding the under sides of the branches. Everything is different and distinctive in those opening hours; everything has a different value from what it has by day. All the little things upon the ground, fallen branches, tussocks, wood-piles, have a peculiar intensity and importance, seem magnified, because of the length of their shadows in the slanting rays, and all the great trees seem lifted above the light and merged with the sky. And at last, a cool grey outline against the blaze and with a glancing iridescent halo about her, comes Mary, flitting, adventurous, friendly, wonderful.

"Oh Stevenage!" she cries, "to see you again!"

We each hold out both our hands and clasp and hesitate and rather shyly kiss.

"Come!" she says, "we can talk for an hour. It's still not six. And there is a fallen branch where we can[Pg 76] sit and put our feet out of the wet. Oh! it's so good to be out of things again—clean out of things—with you. Look! there is a stag watching us."

"You're glad to be with me?" I ask, jealous of the very sunrise.

"I am always glad," she says, "to be with you. Why don't we always get up at dawn, Stevenage, every day of our lives?"

We go rustling through the grass to the prostrate timber she has chosen. (I can remember even the thin bracelet on the wrist of the hand that lifted her skirt.) I he

MJ 06/20/2022
Not an author known for his flair for stories of explosive human emotion, Wells struggles to ignite this novel of complicated amour without resorting to lachrymal melodrama. Composed around the same time as Ann Veronica and The New Machiavelli, this 1913 novel explores similar New Woman (i.e. proto-
Emma 01/26/2019
Absolutely stunning. Moving, thought-provoking, mind-blowing. Beautiful.
Shaun 08/24/2017
I've noticed a pattern in some of Wells' lesser works: pages and pages of pontification on socialism and other issues of the day. This is fine-the best types of art engage with the world around it. The problem is, especially in Wells' case, it doesn't exactly make for compelling stories.

The Passion
Vivien 12/23/2007
Love sucks. But how gloriously, how magnificently, how tragically! Nevetheless... love will mostly bring pain and torment, so keep it in your pants. I think that's the theme of this book- I haven't read it in a while, but I remember adoring the angst, so I shall probably re-read it.

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