The Hidden Hand (novel)

The Hidden Hand (or Capitola the Madcap) is a serial novel by E. D. E. N. Southworth first published in the New York Ledger in 1859, and was Southworth's most popular novel. It was serialized twice more, first in 1868–69 and then again 1883 (in slightly revised form), before first appearing in book form in 1888. The novel was also serialized in the London Guide to Literature, Science, Art, and General Information simultaneous to its first publication in the New York Ledger. The name of the novel was changed to The Masked Mother for the London edition.[1][2]

The Hidden Hand features Capitola Black, a tomboyish protagonist who finds herself in a myriad of adventures. Southworth stated that nearly every adventure of her heroine came from real life.[3] In the London version of the novel published by the Guide, the characters and action were revised and relocated. The Masked Mother takes place in the "hilly districts of North Wales" instead of Virginia, the protagonist is discovered in Dublin rather than New York, and the war segment of the novel is also shifted from Mexico to Crimea. Some characters retain their original names, including the villain Black Donald, while others are shifted to Irish and Scottish associations.[1]

The book reportedly sold nearly two million copies.[4][5] A sequel was released called Capitola's Peril.

It was also adapted into a play numerous times, and performed in venues across the United States and in London.[4][6][7]

  1. ^ a b Looby, Christopher (September 2004). "Southworth and Seriality: The Hidden Hand in the New York Ledger". Nineteenth-Century Literature. 59 (2). University of California Press: 179–211. doi:10.1525/ncl.2004.59.2.179. JSTOR 10.1525/ncl.2004.59.2.179.
  2. ^ Homestead, Melissa; Washington, Pamela, eds. (2012). E.D.E.N. Southworth: Recovering a Nineteenth-Century Popular Novelist. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press.
  3. ^ (February 21, 1895). Building Novels: Mrs. Southworth Describes Her Realistic Methods, The Daily World (Lawrence, Kansas), p. 3, col. 3.
  4. ^ a b Burt, Daniel S. The Chronology of American Literature, p. 211, 274 (2004)
  5. ^ Frank, Lisa Tendrich. Women in the American Civil War, Volume 1, p. 521-22 (2008)
  6. ^ Dobson, Joanne. Introduction to The Hidden Hand (1988)
  7. ^ Hart, James David. The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste, p. 96 (1950)