The Shadow of the Bars

The Shadow of the Bars This issue of *The Household Library* (November 16, 1888) is dominated by the novel *The Shadow of the Bars* by Ernest de Lancey Pierson. The narrative opens with Alice's release from prison after a one-year sentence. Disoriented by freedom after months in confinement, she experiences simultaneous joy and terror—delighting in natural scenery while fearing recapture. She flees to the woods, eventually reaching a town where her prison-issued brown dress marks her as a convicted criminal. In a small shop, Alice encounters a poster advertising "The Delevan Diamonds," a serialized story based on actual events. The shopkeeper recounts the tale: a woman employed as a companion was arrested when diamonds entrusted to her vanished from her employer's bureau, receiving a year's sentence despite suspicions about the employer's sister. Alice reacts with extreme distress to this account, suggesting personal connection to the real case underlying the fictional narrative.