Devereux: Restored Classics to Go Edition

Edward Bulwer Lytton's Devereux is a richly self-aware historical romance that becomes, in effect, a life story shaped by wit, memory, and moral scrutiny. Framed by the author's own reflections on youth, philosophy, and the limits of art, the novel blends fiction with metaphysical and ethical inquiry, using figures like Algernon Mordaunt and Bolingbroke to deepen its portrait of an age rather than merely decorate it. At its center stands Morton Devereux, a solitary, intelligent man who looks back on love, ambition, politics, and loss with cool candor, addressing future readers as judges of his turbulent life. The narrative ranges from family origins and childhood at Devereux Court to London society, court intrigue, Paris, Petersburg, and back to England, tracing a world of scandal, duels, diplomacy, and disillusionment. Sir William Devereux, vain yet lovable, becomes a pivotal influence, while the narrator's bond with him, his debates over education, and his conversations with St. John and Aubrey reveal the novel's tension between public performance and inward truth. Wit, social observation, and melancholy reflection combine in a story where lineage, corruption, and destiny are inseparable. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.