The Masquerader (novel) explained

The Masquerader (1904) is a novel by Irish writer Katherine Cecil Thurston published in both the United Kingdom and the United States. (It was titled John Chilcote, M.P. in its British release.)

A leading British politician chooses to swap places with his cousin, a journalist who is his doppelganger. This leads to a dilemma for his wife, who falls in love with the double. It was the third most popular book on the New York Times bestselling list that year, and continued as a bestseller in 1905.^[1]

Adaptations

• In 1917 the novel was adapted as a play The Masquerader by American playwrightJohn Hunter Booth.
• It was filmed four times:

-As a silent film entitled The Compact (1912) and produced by American Pathé.-As a Russian/French co-production, a silent film entitled Chlen parlamenta (1920).

The play and novel were the basis for both the 1922 silent film The Masquerader and the 1933 sound film The Masquerader, which were produced in the United States.

Bibliography

• Burt, Daniel S. The Chronology of American Literature: America's literary achievements from the Colonial Era to Modern Times. New England Publishing, 2004.

Notes and References

1. Burt, p. 301