Maurice Guest

Maurice Guest, Henry Handel Richardson's debut novel published in London in 1908, is set amidst the vibrant music scene of turn-of-the-century Leipzig, a cosmopolitan centre for the arts attracting students from across the globe. Among them is Maurice Guest, a young Englishman who becomes hopelessly enamoured with an Australian woman, Louise Dufrayer. This story chronicles the intensity of his overwhelming passion.

Initially, the novel was considered too controversial for publication as Richardson intended. She was compelled to condense the manuscript by twenty thousand words and soften its language. Despite these changes, it remains a significant work that captures the reader's imagination. As Carmen Callil notes in her introduction, "It remains a great novel, one that, once it grasps your imagination, is impossible to put down for more than a moment, leading every reader into a dreamtime remembrance of the terrible pain the human heart is heir to."