Her Benny

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Her Benny was his second novel written in 1879 at the age of twenty nine after he has spent three years working with the poor and destitute on the streets of Liverpool. Didactic in intent, yet sympathetic in tone, his 'rags to riches' tale was well calculated to appeal to a contemporary audience.

He scrapes a living running errands in the streets; his beloved but frail sister Nelly, a year younger, sells matches. I mean having grown up in liverpool and the surrounding areas I have visited many places within this book and have felt able to immerse myself into what was happening. My efforts to hopscotch to the front door jumping only on books I've read is getting closer to completion! The harsh portrayal of street urchin Perks, alias John Cadger, contrasts with empathy of Charles Dickens in his creation of the Artful Dodger.Then raising his voice to a loud pitch the shouted, “Mike, come down here: there’s a chap that ‘as five pun’ in his pocket; let’s collar him quick! You can spot the doomed character early on, the right people repent, and because it's non-conformist it's (slightly) more believable than eg Susan Warner. The police rarely, if ever, venture into this neighbourhood alone, or if one should be so foolish enough to do so, he has generally to pay dearly for his indiscretion.

The language, vocabulary and grammar misuse put me occasionally is a state of apoplexy and nearly to tears.It's also funny in hindsight to have not one but two agonizing deathbed scenes for the same person, although it was surprisingly effective the second time around.

A story that is heart wrenching in parts and full of emotion throughout, I defy you not to tear up when reading this. I've not read anything with this style of writing or genre, I got the book as a gift, but I did like it and it's something I'll keep for a long time. Lawrence, and marriage with Eva, who gave him the shilling in his greatest hour of need, which he kept and never dared spend. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible.

Once recovered from this shock, the tears soon reappeared as a result of this heart wrenching story. The twists and turns in life of ‘Her Benny’ (her being Nelly, his sister) illustrate the poverty and destitution of the time, but a godly approach to life pays dividends in the end. His local knowledge also emerges in the book's vivid descriptions of Victorian Liverpool, and its careful attempts to reproduce the Scouse dialect. My mum has been trying to her me to read this for years but it never appealed to me, embarking on the 59 book challenge with one of the topics "a book your mum loves" I had to choose this one.When Oscar Wilde said you’d have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing one wonders whether he was really thinking of Hocking.