The History of Sir Richard Calmady

Lucas Malet follows the life of Sir Richard Calmady, heir to an ancient English family, who is born with a severe physical deformity that sets him apart from the world he is meant to inherit. The novel traces his sheltered upbringing under a devoted mother, his passage into a society quick to pity or recoil, and his painful reckoning with love, pride, and self-acceptance. Malet, a daughter of the writer Charles Kingsley, wrote with an unusual frankness for 1901, and the book became both a bestseller and a subject of controversy. It probes suffering, desire, and the meaning of a life shaped by circumstances beyond a person’s choosing. This free PDF and EPUB edition offers the complete novel.