Valerie French (novel)
# Valerie French (novel)

Valerie French is a 1923 adventure novel by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), a sequel to Anthony Lyveden. It was first published in monthly instalments in The Windsor Magazine.

## Plot

Anthony Lyveden loses his memory, and confuses the two women who love him, Valerie French and André Strongi’th’arm.

## Background

After completing Anthony Lyveden, the chance reading of an article in The Spectator convinced Mercer that his writing needed more gravitas, and he significantly altered his style for this volume to incorporate the systematic use of the colon. He also introduced a device that became his trademark – the words 'More' or 'Worse' standing alone between periods. His biographer AJ Smithers commented, "Whether or not this was an improvement on his old style must be a matter of opinion."

## Chapters

| Chapter | Book Title | Windsor Title | Date | Volume | Issue | Pages | Illustrator |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| I | A Pillar Of Salt | A Pillar Of Salt | December 1922 | LVII | 336 | 3-16 | Norah Schlegel |
| II | Leviathan | Rogues And Vagabonds | January 1923 | LVII | 337 | 130-142 | Norah Schlegel |
| III | Figs Of Thistles | Figs Of Thistles | February 1923 | LVII | 338 | 248-260 | Norah Schlegel |
| IV | Blind Alley | Blind Alley | March 1923 | LVII | 339 | 372-386 | Norah Schlegel |
| V | Fallacy Row | Fallacy Row | April 1923 | LVII | 340 | 483-494 | Norah Schlegel |
| VI | Poor Players | Poor Players | May 1923 | LVII | 341 | 603-614 | Norah Schlegel |
| VII | The Sieve Of Vanity | The Sieve Of Vanity | June 1923 | LVIII | 342 | 17-30 | Norah Schlegel |
| VIII | Straight Street | Straight Street | July 1923 | LVIII | 343 | 141-154 | Norah Schlegel |
| IX | The Swine's Snout | The Swine's Snout | August 1923 | LVIII | 344 | 261-275 | Norah Schlegel |
| X | Until The Day Break | Until The Day Break | September 1923 | LVIII | 345 | 405-419 | Norah Schlegel |

## Illustrations

The illustrations from the Windsor stories by Norah Schlegel (1879-1963) were not included in the book version.

## Critical reception

The editor of The Windsor Magazine reluctantly agreed to accept the book for publication. Smithers, writing in 1982, was not enthusiastic either, commenting that the seams show too clearly where the individual episodes have been padded out to the required length by moralising. He found both Lyveden and Miss French to be austere characters to whom it is impossible to warm, and felt that Mercer preferred the dog in his story to any of his human characters – and that he was probably right.

