Julia and Her Romeo

Name: Julia and Her Romeo
Author: David Christie Murray

"Julia and Her Romeo" transplants the tale of two feuding families to the English farming parish of Castle Barfield, where Abel Reddy of Perry Hall and Samson Mountain of Mountain Farm carry on a hatred inherited from a disputed diversion of a boundary brook centuries earlier, supposedly worked by a Mountain ancestor against a Reddy away fighting for Cromwell. As boys, Abel's son Richard ("Dick") Reddy and Samson's son Joe Mountain fight in a coppice under the eye of the local squire, who forces them to shake hands and rewards them both. Overheard by Samson, this reconciliation angers him; at home he bullies his wife and then browbeats Joe into denying the friendship, ordering him to the brewhouse for a beating. Joe runs away instead, planning to reach Liverpool and become a sailor like Crusoe or Gulliver's companions. He is found hiding near the boundary bridge by Dick and the farm labourer Ichabod Bubb, who has been feeding Richard the old grudge-lore along the way. Dick hides Joe overnight in a Perry Hall barn and smuggles him food, but the runaway is discovered the next day; Abel Reddy himself drives Joe home, exchanging cold words with Samson, and Joe receives his thrashing anyway. Sent to separate schools, the boys secretly stay friends, and Joe confides in his sister Julia, who comes to idolize Dick from afar in church. The widow Jenny Rusker — once courted unsuccessfully by both Abel and Samson — befriends Dick, indulges him at her cottage, and tells him the story of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," which he takes to heart. She also takes him to the wizard Rufus Smith, the "Dudley Devil," to charm away warts, establishing Rufus as a source of dubious remedies. Years later, Dick and Julia are secretly in love. Abel, sensing the attachment, sends Dick away to London to study medicine. Before leaving, Dick meets Julia at night with Jenny's help to say goodbye; Samson Mountain catches them, strikes at Dick with his whip, and vows to shoot him if he comes near Julia again. Enraged, Samson returns home and, without warning, informs Julia she is to marry neighbor Tom Raybould within the fortnight, devastating her. Desperate, Jenny — inspired by her own retelling of Shakespeare's play — schemes to fake Julia's death with a sleeping draught obtained from Rufus Smith, intending to soften both fathers' hearts and reunite the lovers, though Julia is too frightened to agree to the plan. Jenny drugs her anyway. Julia falls into so deep a sleep that she appears dead, throwing the household into panic; a messenger is sent for the doctor, and Samson, stricken with grief, wanders the farm in despair. Overwhelmed with guilt, Jenny confesses her scheme to Dick, who has rushed to the farm on hearing the news. He goes to Julia's bedside and declares she is not dead, promising to revive her. While he tends to Julia upstairs, Abel Reddy comes to the grieving Samson, calls him "neighbour," and offers his hand, admitting he had tried to keep the young lovers apart and expressing regret at not ending the feud sooner. Samson accepts the reconciliation just as Mrs. Mountain calls from the window that Julia is alive and awake, revealing Dick embracing her. The ancient feud between the Reddys and the Mountains ends there, and the narrative closes noting that Dick and Julia marry, Samson and Abel become amicable grandfathers together, and neither Dick nor Jenny ever reveals to Julia the deception by which the match was secured.

By David Christie Murray · First published 1893 · Genre: Romance, Drama, Historical Fiction · 6 chapters · 24,964 words

First lines

In the year eighteen hundred and twenty, and for many years before and after, Abel Reddy farmed his own land at Perry Hall End, on the western boundaries of Castle Barfield. He lived at Perry Hall, a ripe-coloured old tenement of Elizabethan design, which crowned a gentle eminence and looked out picturesquely on all sides from amongst its neighbouring trees. It had a sturdier aspect in its age than it could have worn when younger, for its strength had the sign-manual of time upon it, and even its hoary lichens looked as much like a prophecy as a record.

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Julia and Her Romeo is listed on Textopian as a novel by David Christie Murray, dated 1893 CE.

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Work type: Novel
Author: David Christie Murray
Date: 1893 CE
Language: English
Genres: Romance, Drama, Historical Fiction
Length: 24,964 words
Structure: 6 chapters, 410 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Romance — The story primarily focuses on the romantic relationship between the titular characters Julia and Romeo, which suggests a strong romance genre association.
Drama — The many conflicts and emotional tensions in the book’s plot suggest a drama genre.
Historical Fiction — The setting and context of the story hark back to a certain historical era, thus placing it in the historical fiction genre.