DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Dolly Dialogues" by Anthony Hope. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

In the character of Dolly Foster, British writer Anthony Hope has created an unforgettable embodiment of the turbulent end of the Victorian era. Constrained by old-fashioned conventions but bursting with newfangled ideas, this young woman is the element that ties together all of the vignettes and short tales collected in The Dolly Dialogues.

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 - 8 July 1933), was an English novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works, "minor classics" of English literature, are set in the contemporaneous fictional country of Ruritania and spawned the genre known as Ruritanian romance, works set in fictional European locales similar to the novels. Zenda has inspired many adaptations, most notably the 1937 Hollywood movie of the same name

This book is full of wit and humour, told in the first person by the once romantically involved with Dolly, Sam Carter. The Dolly Dialogues is a collection of short stories all linked. Dolly is a flirtatious and funny young woman who marries a dull but wealthy husband, Lord Mickleham, against the wishes of his dull mother and his spiteful sisters.

Upon this-and I have really never been so pleased at anything in all my life-the Countess, the violence of her emotions penetrating to her very fingers, gripped the handle of her "starers" with such force that she broke it in two! She was a woman of the world, and in a moment she looked as if nothing had happened. With me it was different; and that I am not now on Lady Mickleham's visiting list is due to (inter alia et enormia) the fact that I laughed! It was out before I could help it. In a second I was as grave as a mute. The mischief was done. The Countess rose. I imitated her example."You are amused?" said she, and her tones banished the last of my mirth. I stumbled on my hat and it rolled to her feet.

Anthony Hope has written two kinds of stories; one interesting for the civilised detail, the other for the situation and plot. When we read the first kind we do not care about the result, and we don't get excited. If we have plenty of leisure and care for little turns of expression, feeling, and thought, and care a great deal for clean and pleasant society, we are content with books like "e;The Dolly Dialogues."e; The mixture of tolerance, urbanity, and cynicism is just right for the idle person of refinement who does not want to do anything very difficult; even regards to feeling and thinking. The other kind of book vein that Mr. Hope has done well is the romantic story of adventure: as "e;The Prisoner of Zenda,"e; where we are hurried along by a string of exciting impossibilities. "e;The Intrusions of Peggy"e; is a mixture of these two manners. It has the Hope quality in the details-the indirect, civilised suggestiveness, the lightness, the touch of the mere stylist. One could make pertinent quotations ad infinitum. It has the other element, too, like intrigue and some excitement.