Ask Mamma

First issued in 1858 as Ask Mamma; or, The Richest Commoner in England, this comic novel follows two generations of the Pringle family. Emma Willing, a seamstress, marries Billy Pringle; after his death she manoeuvres their son, Fine Billy, into the orbit of the hunting earl Ladythorne. In the countryside Billy sheds an early attachment to a servant and takes to fox-hunting, while local families, including the Yammertons, court his money and his prospects. Surtees satirises social climbing, the marriage market, and the talk of the field. It is a sporting society novel: hunts, house visits, and the comedy of a commoner being trained as a gentleman.

Bound in red cloth. White dust-jacket printed in grey and black.