In the Name of Liberty by Florence Marryat

Florence Marryat contributed several serialised works of fiction to the Bolton Weekly Journal, including Fighting the Air (1874-75) and Her Father’s Name (1876). Marryat’s third piece to be serialised in the journal was In the Name of Liberty and appeared from January – March 1897 (Troy J. Bassett, 2021). Marryat’s work received mixed reviews from critics, “with many reviewers alarmed by the themes of marital cruelty, adultery and alcoholism” (Catherine Pope, 2021). Marryat, however, declared that she was writing from experience.

The Saturday Review noted Marryat’s In the Name of Liberty to be a sensational piece of dramatic work that combined “[…] with its inconceivable Irish conspirators, its magnificent confusion of classes, and its sustained and full-blooded melodrama, [a]s one of Miss Marryat’s most rousing stories. […] It will scintillate as a star of the first magnitude.” (Saturday Review, 1899, London, p. 248) The article describes the novel as one of Marryat’s most stimulating novels.

The Academy, however, remarked of the novel that: “But for its obvious air of good faith, the book reads like a parody.” (The Academy, 1897, London, p.519) The article acknowledges that the novel includes elements of intentional sincerity, though it is compared to reading like an exaggerated imitation. 

The Academy review concludes that: “The description [..] is funnily amateurish, and altogether the book, though it has not a shred of merit, makes amusing reading” (p.520). They balance Marryat’s novel out with their earlier choice of words. Although, Marryat had mixed reviews, most of her audience was favourable. 

Read an interesting overview of Marryat’s life here.