Three Weeks is a 1907 erotic Romance Novel by Elinor Glyn, about a wealthy English nobleman falling for an eccentric foreign lady.
Paul Verdayne, a wealthy English nobleman in his early twenties, is caught embracing the parson's daughter. His parents decide to send him away to France and then Switzerland. In Switzerland, he sees a woman referred to only as "the Lady". The Lady is older, in her thirties. After several days of exchanging lustful glances, they actually meet. She invites him to her apartment, where they share a sexual relationship for three weeks.
At the time of its release, reviews were overwhelmingly negative, with reviewers even making personal attacks against Glyn herself. Despite the reviews, it was popular enough to sell on average about 2,000 copies per day for the next three months.
There were two film adaptations, a film in 1914 (which is now lost) and a film from 1924.
This Romance Novel provides examples of:
- Betty and Veronica: Isabella and the Lady.
- Bittersweet Ending: True, his love is gone, but he has the memory of her love with him, and in the final few pages, goes to see his son.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The reason Paul gets sent to Paris is because he was caught hugging Isabella. Though this may have been because of their social standing more than anything improper going on between them, since Paul is a nobleman's son and Isabella is a poor parson's daughter.
- Domestic Abuse: Hinted at when the Lady says she hates one person with a fiery passion, her husband, which ultimately culminates in her husband killing her after she gives birth to Paul's son.
- Ethical Slut: The Lady
- Generation Xerox: Paul and the Lady's son is described to look just like him.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Paul is a bit naive, but means well and is a nice guy
- I Want Grandkids: Paul's family, his mother especially
- Idle Rich: Paul has recently graduated from university and has not many ambitions in life.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: The Lady is certainly... eccentric, but it's deconstructed since there is an underlying sadness in her whimsy.
- No Name Given: We only know the Lady as the Lady.
- Old Retainer: Dmitry, the Lady's devoted butler. after the Lady is killed and her husband is executed for her murder, he is the one who raises her and Paul's son, with Dmitry sending yearly letters.
- Romance Novel
- Preacher's Kid: Isabella, the parson's daughter, though the worst we see her do is hug a boy.
- Purple Prose: It's an erotic novel written in 1907, what do you think?
