The Chateau of Montplaisir
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2025-11-24 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #77315 |
Description
"The Chateau of Montplaisir" by Molly Elliot Seawell is a comic novel of manners written in the early 20th century. It follows a penniless young aristocrat who inherits a crumbling Breton chateau and is swept into schemes of adoption, restoration, and romance with a rich soap magnate craving a pedigree, a scandalously lively comtesse, and the mischievous Julie de Brésac. Expect light satire of class pretensions, flirtation, and farcical plotting along the sunlit promenades of Dinard. The opening of the story introduces Louis Victor de Latour mourning his dilapidated Montplaisir, joking about burning it down, and living on stale bread under the watch of wry old Suzette. A prosperous namesake, Victor Louis de Latour, arrives seeking noble kinship; he offers to adopt Louis and pay him handsomely, then sets about repairing one wing of the chateau. In lively Dinard, Louis meets the irrepressible Comtesse de Beauregard and her radiant niece Julie, while the comtesse goads her pious nephew Eugène and flirts with the dashing General Granier. Spurred by a prank, Julie applies incognito as “Mademoiselle de Courcey,” a companion for the magnate’s devout niece Mélanie; though her youth alarms him at first, one terrace walk at Montplaisir wins him over and he hires her as his “private secretary.” As workmen swarm the chateau and invitations are implied, the stage is set for identity games, courtship tangles, and a festive house party to test everyone’s designs. (This is an automatically generated summary.)