Meredith Nicholson (1866–1947)

Twenty-seven year old John Glenarm is called back to the United States several months after the death of his grandfather, John Marshall Glenarm, to hear the contents of the elder Glenarm’s will. There are many unusual provisions in the will and, under its terms, young Jack must give up his globetrotting ways and settle at his grandfather’s unfinished estate in Indiana and agree to reside there—without leaving—for the term of one year.

Arthur Pickering, Jack’s old nemesis from show more school days, is the executor of the will and determined to enforce it. Oddly, in spite of his grandfather’s tremendous wealth, Pickering declares that there are virtually no assets to be inherited—aside from the Indiana property in question. So, Jack sets out to take up residence in the Hoosier state and is attacked the very first night he arrives. Jack must deal with attempts upon his life, rumors of buried treasure, an endless stream of intruders, a servant of questionable repute, and an impudent schoolgirl from the convent school across the way. It’s all too much for Jack to handle on his own, but with the help of his old comrade, Larry, and Stoddard, the girls’ school chaplain, everything turns out all right in the end…maybe.

The House of A Thousand Candles has three major problems.

First, the storyline is hopelessly implausible. From the provisions of the will, to the unfettered lawlessness of rural Indiana, to the actions of all the major (& minor) characters…it all just smacks of contrived nonsense that defies believability—even for a work of romantic, mystery fiction!

Second, the shocking ‘twist’ ending isn’t the least bit surprising. A family member and I were reading this together, and we both had the ‘startling revelation’ worked out in the very first chapter; most other readers, if they’re paying the least bit of attention, will figure it out, too. This makes for a very dull anticlimax when the ‘shocking secret’ is finally revealed. Ho hum.

Third, the overt contradictions in the depiction of the novel’s hero are difficult to reconcile; they only succeed in making the protagonist unlikeable and unrealistic. All of the background information provided for the young John Glenarm identify him as strong-willed, independent, adventurous, and an all-around man’s man. He defied his grandfather’s edicts and chose his own profession and path in life. He has traveled the world: working as an engineer, funding expeditions & explorations in wildest Africa, and engaging in intrigues and espionage in the Far East with his chum, Laurence Donovan. By the time we reach the narrative of this book, however, a more mature Jack Glenarm seems to have done a 180 in the heroics department. For the duration of the action in this book, Jack is credulous, incredibly stupid, a terrible pushover, and can’t even hold his own in a basic fistfight. His grandfather is now manipulating him easily from the grave & a local schoolgirl mocks him relentlessly to his great shame. Everyone seems to be able to easily control Jack until he seems like not much of a hero at all—even at the book’s triumphant (?) conclusion. Throughout most of the book, I kept wishing the author had chosen to write about Jack & Larry’s international feats of derring-do instead of Jack’s whiny, homespun exploits of persecution and puppy love. Oh well.

Nevertheless, this isn’t an awful book. The setting in turn-of-the-20th-century rural Indiana is charming. Laurence Donovan is a decidedly fun character. And, if you can get past the nonsensical implausibility of it all, the story is a mostly entertaining one.

Despite its obvious flaws, I actually enjoyed reading this book—although, I don’t think I’d be terribly interested in reading it again…at least, not any time soon. show less

House of a Thousand Candles was originally published in the early 1900’s and is a fun, somewhat dated read with an isolated mansion, secret passages, hidden treasure, bumps in the night, a butler who is not what he seems, and a vagabond main character.

The story is of John Glenarm who has been kicking around Europe whiling away his time and his money, living the fast life. He receives news that his Grandfather has died. John has been left the estate but with one stipulation, he must reside show more at the house in Indiana for one full year, if he doesn’t live up to that clause, he then forfeits everything to a young lady who resides next door at the convent school. The fun starts when he takes up residence at the house with strange encounters, mysterious sounds and someone taking a pot-shot at him from the dark. The action is a little overblown with fights, arguments and bullets flying about.

Overall a fun read, although the romance angle was little weak and there were some action scenes that were rather overdone and caused some eye-rolling. The twist at the end was no surprise but I did enjoy the time I spent reading this light hearted romp as I pictured it being made into a great 1930’s style romantic comedy-adventure with stars like Franchot Tone and Loretta Young. show less

This is a marvelous romp. Take a beautiful but mysterious house, a beautiful and enigmatic woman of dubious loyalties, a strange will, four strong, stalwart young man and a group of resourceful toughs, then shake and stir. I raced through this one. Of all the older books written by Indiana authors, this has held up the best.

My spouse recently found an old newspaper from 1905 behind a mirror on an old piece of furniture we had bought in Cambridge when we were newly weds, back in the dark ages. Interestingly, the paper was from Baltimore, the city of my birth. How it got into a mirror on a bureau in Cambridge, MA is a mystery.

Anyway, one of its pages listed some books one might buy as Christmas presents. The list had little summaries. I decided to check a few of them out. I could find several of the authors show more listed, but not the books listed with them, with one exception. I did find The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson. Actually, that's not quite true. I found a couple of the others, but only in pay form. I won't pay for books on kindle unless I actually own them, i.e. can lend them or give them away with impunity.

Whatever, this book is a sort of gothic novel, I suppose. A young man inherits a strange old, unfinished mansion in the Indiana woods, but only on the proviso that he lives in the house for a full year, that he doesn't have a bunch of live-in guests, and that he doesn't leave, other than for short trips into town (an easy 2-mile walk--yes people used to walk to get places and 2 miles wasn't all that unusual.) to the post office and such like.

As soon as he gets to the house, someone tries shooting him through the window. He begins to hear weird sounds, e.g. foot steps in the walls. He hears snatches of conversation that tells him people are out to get him. People think there's buried treasure of some sort in the house, but no one can find it. There's a girls school, run by nuns, protestant ones no less, just on the other side of the wall, and at least one of the school's inhabitants is bewitching. And so forth.

This is not deathless literature, and is obviously dated. Some of the attitudes expressed in the book are a bit creepy to a more modern sensibility (e.g. attitudes toward women and "rubes", i.e. midwesterners--oh wait some folks still think we're ignorant rubes [I have midwestern roots and lived in both Kansas and Ohio for extended periods of time]). But it's an interesting enough yarn and perfectly fine escapist literature, even if the main character is a bit of an ass. I've read much worse. show less