Hilda Wade Explained
Hilda Wade is a novel by Grant Allen, originally published as a serial in The Strand. It is notable as an example of early detective fiction with a female protagonist.[1]
Synopsis
Nurse Hilda Wade and the Watson-esque Dr. Hubert Cumberledge (narrating) attempt to track down the murderous Sebastian. Wade is the daughter of the murder victim, and agrees to marry the persistent Dr. Cumberledge only once Sebastian is brought to justice. After saving Sebastian in Tibet, Sebastian confesses his crimes before dying on the return to England.
Publication
Hilda Wade was published in The Strand from March 1899 to February 1900 in 12 chapters.[2] The final two chapters were finished posthumously by Allen's friend and neighbor Arthur Conan Doyle.
Themes & Reception
Hilda Wade addresses a variety of themes relevant to late 19th-century medicine, including the applied or abstract nature of biological research, the role of nurses compared to doctors, and particular kinds of knowledge as 'masculine' or 'feminine'.[3] In contrast with detective fiction like the Sherlock Holmes series that focuses on clues, Hilda Wade focuses on Wade's deduction from the study of human personalities.[4] [2]
Writing in 1995, David Skene-Melvin describes the book as lackluster compared to other romantic intrigues published in the same era.[5]
Notes and References
- Book: Kestner, Joseph . Sherlock's Sisters: The British Female Detective, 1864-1913 . 2024-08-11 . Ashgate Publishing . en . 9780367888312 . 2003 .
- Book: Burrow, Merrick . The Cambridge Companion to Sherlock Holmes . 2019 . Cambridge University Press . 978-1-107-15585-5 . Allan . Janice M. . Cambridge Companions to Literature . Cambridge . Pittard . Christopher . Holmes and the History of Detective Fiction . Hilda Wade is nonetheless a notable departure from the Holmes stories in its treatment of detection as a matter of interpretation of character as much as the analysis of material clues. Hilda Wade, the sleuth, is a nurse endowed with a particularly heightened capacity for female intuition. She is aided in her investigations by Dr Hubert Cumberledge, who is both her narrating Watson and eventual lover – a radical twist on the sidekick motif and a departure from the homosocial ethos of the Holmes stories..
- Book: Pittard, Christopher . Purity and Contamination in Late Victorian Detective Fiction . 2011 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 978-1-4094-3289-0 . en.
- Moretti . Franco . 2000 . The Slaughterhouse of Literature . MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly . 61 . 1 . 207–227 . 1527-1943 . In 1899, for instance, “Hilda Wade” tries to replace the study of clues with that of personality and the investigation of the past with the prediction of the future. Very courageous idea — but a little weird..
- Book: Skene-Melvin, David . David Skene-Melvin . Investigating investigating women: a historical survey of female detectives by Canadian writers . Investigating Women: Female Detectives by Canadian Writers: An Eclectic Sampler . December 1995 . . 9780889242692 . August 11, 2024 . Grant Allen also wrote about another female investigator. When he died in 1899, his uncompleted novel, Hilda Wade, was finished by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and published posthumously. Sir Arthur did not do his late friend a favour; despite the efforts of booksellers and other bibliographers of the genre, this collection of short stories is not even barely criminous and is a lackluster example of the tales of romantic intrigue typical of the period. The only thing that has kept the book from sinking into deserved obscurity is the fame and name of Allen’s friend and neighbor..
