THE DEVIL'S GARDEN.....
Risque for its time, but tame by today's standards, The Devil's Garden is a story of passion and mystery. William Dale, the main character of the story is Postmaster of Rodhaven. He is introduced as an honest peasant of uncompromising temper, whose rough nature is ever softened by his pretty wife Mavis. Mavis is an orphan raised by her Aunt Petherick. Known as Will, and referred to as Dale throughout the story, he gets into trouble at the post office but thanks to the intervention of the local magnet of Rodhaven, he is cleared and reinstated. At the height of his joy, his wife meets him in London. Together they dine at a good restaurant and attend a music hall performance. Dale's evening in London is transformed into a catastrophe when he learns a past secret about Mavis that threatens his marriage. Confronted with this secret, Will and Mavis struggle to make their marriage work and become successful. Ironically, Dale is eventually confronted by the same scenario.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY.....
William Babington Maxwell (June 4, 1866 – August 4, 1938) was a British novelist and playwright. He was the son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Irish businessman John Maxwell. The family lived at Lichfield House, Richmond, spending holidays in the New Forest. Maxwell's formal education ended at the age of fourteen as his mother had a fear of 'over-education'.
Originally training as an artist, Maxwell turned his back on art and began to write short stories to help cope with depression. His first story was published in The World by Edmund Yates for £5. He also wrote stories for Truth and Temple Bar. On his coming of age, his father gave him control of the failing magazine Mistletoe Bough which he tried unsuccessfully to turn around. He wrote The Last Man In, a drama, produced March 14, 1910, at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow, by the Scottish Repertory Company; and, with George Paston (i.e. Emily Morse Symonds), a farce, The Naked Truth, which was first played at Wyndham's Theatre, London in April 1910, and in which Charles Hawtrey played Bernard Darrell. His 1913 novel The Devil's Garden was banned by the Libraries Association.
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