The Girl Behind the Keys
  • Publication Date: December 19, 2005
  • ISBN: 9781551114736 / 1551114739
  • 140 pages; 5½" x 8½"

Broadview eBooks are available on a variety of platforms. To learn more, please visit our eBook information page.

Note on pricing.

Request Exam Copy

Examination copy policy

Availability: Worldwide

The Girl Behind the Keys

  • Publication Date: December 19, 2005
  • ISBN: 9781551114736 / 1551114739
  • 140 pages; 5½" x 8½"

“As the door was thrust open, I heard, as in a dream, the voice of Neal Larrard—calm and cool as ever—dictating to me; mechanically, my fingers touched the keys, and I began to type. While I did so, I felt that fearful dead thing pressing against my knees, and felt also the muzzle of the revolver hard against my side.”

First published in 1903, The Girl Behind the Keys is a delightful example of early detective fiction in which Bella Thorn, a savvy young typist, foils the nefarious plans of her employer, a confidence man who exploits the hopes and fears infusing the popular imagination. As Arlene Young’s critical introduction demonstrates, the story unites many of the cultural and literary motifs marking the dawn of the twentieth century, when the Victorian era was giving way to modernity.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Works Cited and Suggestions for Further Reading
A Note on the Text

The Girl Behind the Keys

  • The Kidnapping of President Penaluna
    The Diamonds of the Danseuse
    The Spirit of Sarah Keech
    The Saving of Curly-Head
    The Haunted Yacht
    The Swingley Green Tragedy
    The Mummy
    The Return of Mr. Maggs

Arlene Young is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Manitoba. She is the author of Culture, Class and Gender in the Victorian Novel: Gentlemen, Gents and Working Women (Macmillan, 1999) and the editor of the Broadview edition of George Gissing’s The Odd Women (1998).