The Daltons; Or, Three Roads In Life. Volume I (of II)

"The Daltons; Or, Three Roads In Life. Volume I (of II)" by Charles James Lever is a novel that captures the contrasting lives of Albert Jekyl, Colonel Haggerstone, and Peter Dalton as they meet in a gloomy, out-of-season Baden-Baden. With a blend of humor and seriousness, the story hints at observations about society, diving into themes of who we are, family importance, and luck as the characters begin to connect and face conflicts; the book opens with a detailed description of Baden-Baden’s sad change from a lively place to a deserted town in the winter, as the three main characters, representing different social classes and attitudes, talk and show their backgrounds and thoughts on life’s troubles, and from Dalton’s friendly way of handling old problems, to Jekyl’s seeming lack of depth, and Haggerstone’s bitter military personality, they stand for the many directions life can go, implying that the decisions people make determine who they become and what happens to them.