A Dateless Bargain (1887) is a novel by Catherine Louis Pirkis. Known for her contribution of Victorian detective fiction, Pirkis wrote over a dozen novels and countless stories throughout her brief career as a professional writer. Among them, A Dateless Bargain is an undervalued study of family, class, and trauma that will be of particular interest to scholars of English aristocracy and the rise of the women's rights movement. At their enormous estate in Gloucestershire, Mab and Joyce-daughters of the immensely wealthy Irving Shenstone-are decorating their father's study in anticipation of his arrival by train. With the help of their gardener, they obtain hundreds of flowers to garnish his desk and bookshelves. Amid the excitement, Mab falls asleep and has a dream where her father stands before her. Unbeknownst to the girls and their mother, Irving Shenstone disembarked from his train at five minutes to twelve, slipped while stepping onto the platform, and struck his head, dying instantly. When the news reaches them, their idyllic life is shattered in an instant, forcing Joyce and Mab to grow up long before their time. A Dateless Bargain is a novel of romance, fortune, and tragedy by a relatively unknown writer of Victorian fiction whose work deserves reassessment by readers and critics alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Catherine Louis Pirkis' A Dateless Bargain is a classic of Victorian English literature reimagined for modern readers.

About the Author
Catherine Louisa Pirkis (1839-1910) was a British detective novelist. Born into a middle-class English family, she was raised among eight siblings and moved frequently in her youth. In 1872, she married Frederick Edward Pirkis, with whom she raised two children. Between 1877 and 1894, she published 14 novels and contributed frequently to periodicals and magazines. Towards the end of her life, she dedicated her time to animal rights activism, helping to found the National Canine Defense League in 1891. A popular novelist of Victorian England, Pirkis is remembered for her character Loveday Brooke, a fictional detective dubbed the "female Sherlock Holmes" for her appearance in The Experience of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective (1894), Pirkis' final published work of fiction.


Book Information
ISBN 9781513132907
Author Catherine Louisa Pirkis
Format Hardback
Page Count 284
Imprint West Margin Press
Publisher West Margin Press