Historical Romances by F. Marion Crawford

F. Marion Crawford (b.1854-d.1909), a polyglot American author who was born in and later lived in Italy, was a prolific and entertaining writer of historical romances.  His many books are freely available via the internet because they are in the public domain.

 

Mr. Crawford traveled the world, learned over 20 languages, settled in Rome and Sorrento, and brought up his children in Italy.  He wrote books that entertain and enthrall, and that were especially appreciated by young women readers for their Victorian romanticism.

The books hold up to today's books just fine!  I know.  I've read three of them so far.

1. Marietta:  A Maid of Venice is set in 1400s Venice and Murano.  It is a love story between a glassmaker's very sweet daughter and a romantic foreign glassmaker.  The era comes to life.
2. Cecilia:  A Story of Modern Rome is set Rome in 1900.  It is a mysterious love story that has many elements that appear later in E. M. Forster's A Room with a View.  It is a snapshot of that era's customs, and Rome's lifestyle.
3. Stradella is a love story that starts in Venice and the ends with the lovers in Rome.  It is a highly romanticized account of real-life composer/musician/singer Alessandro Stradella's courtship of a Venetian senator's ward.

All three of these books, and more of Mr. Crawford's Italy based books, are available for free, in various e-book formats, from the grand-daddy of free e-book sites on the web:  Project Gutenberg. Here are the direct links to their pages, from which you can download the e-book version you want.

Casa Braccio Volumes 1 and 2

Cecilia:  A Story of Modern Rome (Set in 1900 Rome. A mysterious love story that has many elements that appear later in E. M. Forster's A Room with a View.)

The Children of the King:  A Story of Southern Italy (The love story of a sailor for a lady.)
The Saracinesca Series of Four Novels:

1. Saracinesca (About the courtship of Giovanni and Corona.)
2. Sant-Ilario (About trouble in Giovanni and Corona's relationship.)
3. Don Orsino (About Giovanni and Corona's son, Orsino.)
4. Corleone:  A Tale of Sicily (Orsino and his brother, the priest Ippolito, go to Sicily and encounter the mafia.)  This link is to the Internet Archive (see below).

The Heart of Rome (A love story set in Rome.)

Marietta:  A Maid of Venice (Set in 1400s Venice and Murano, a love story between a glassmaker's daughter and a foreign glassmaker.  The era comes to life.)

Marzio's Crucifix (About a Roman metal worker and artist.)

A Roman Singer (A poor Italian boy with a wonderful singing voice rises to marry a lady.)

Stradella (A love story that starts in Venice and the book ends with the lovers in Rome.  Romanticized account of composer/musician/singer Alessandro Stradella's courtship of a Venetian senator's ward.)

Tarquisara (A love story set in Naples.)

Whoever Shall Offend (Love story set in Rome.)

 

These two books are available via the Internet Archive, another amazing source for free e-books on the web.

Pietro Ghisleri

To Leeward (An American wife of an Italian has an affair and suffers for it.)

There are people who use the free Project Gutenberg files to produce and sell trade paperback versions of the books via Amazon.com.  Here is the link to the F. Marion Crawford Paperback Books at Amazon.com.




This review is by Candida Martinelli, of Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site, and the author of the cozy-murder-mystery novel AN EXTRA VIRGIN PRESSING MURDER, and the young-adult/adult mystery novel series THE VIOLET STRANGE MYSTERIES the first book of which is VIOLET'S PROBLEM.