The Combined Maze

May Sinclair (1863 - 1946)

Ranny Ransome is an idealistic young man, devoted to exuberant gymnastic exercises and to fighting “flabbiness” in his own life, body and soul. He loves the girlish and athletic Winny Dymond, and particularly loves participating with her in the Combined Maze, a choreographed, intricate, exhilarating group gymnastic ritual in which the young men and women of the Polytechnic Gymnasium demonstrate their skills. Unfortunately, Ranny falls under the spell of the seductive Violet, a sexual free spirit who wants nothing more than to live an untrammeled life on her own terms. When, to her astonishment and horror, Violet becomes pregnant, Ranny dutifully marries her against her will, entangling himself and her in a deadly new Combined Maze of social conventions intended to suppress and subdue the elemental passions that give color to Life. May Sinclair draws her readers in with a quiet, unobtrusive, Victorian prose that seems completely in tune with the conventional proprieties of her society, but goes on in the same seditious, unassuming tone to tell stories of sensuality, adultery, seduction, divorce, and betrayal, quietly protesting the smothering conventions of a society that feared passion in all its forms. Ranny’s mesmerizing struggle to maintain his fundamental decency while remaining true to his real love hangs in the balance to the last page. (summary by Expatriate)

Genre(s): Literary Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 01 Expatriate
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Play 02 Chapter 02 Expatriate
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Play 03 Chapter 03 Expatriate
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Play 04 Chapter 04 Expatriate
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Play 05 Chapter 05 Expatriate
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Play 06 Chapter 06 Expatriate
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Play 07 Chapter 07 Expatriate
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Play 08 Chapter 08 Expatriate
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Play 09 Chapter 09 Expatriate
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Play 10 Chapter 10 Expatriate
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Play 11 Chapter 11 Expatriate
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Play 12 Chapter 12 Expatriate
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Play 13 Chapter 13 Expatriate
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Play 14 Chapter 14 Expatriate
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Play 15 Chapter 15 Expatriate
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Play 16 Chapter 16 Expatriate
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Play 17 Chapter 17 Expatriate
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Play 18 Chapter 18 Expatriate
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Play 19 Chapter 19 Expatriate
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Play 20 Chapter 20 Expatriate
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Play 21 Chapter 21 Expatriate
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Play 22 Chapter 22 Expatriate
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Play 23 Chapter 23 Expatriate
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Play 24 Chapter 24 Expatriate
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Play 25 Chapter 25a Expatriate
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Play 26 Chapter 25b Expatriate
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Play 27 Chapter 26a Expatriate
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Play 28 Chapter 26b Expatriate
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Play 29 Chapter 27 Expatriate
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Play 30 Chapter 28a Expatriate
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Play 31 Chapter 28b Expatriate
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Play 32 Chapter 29 Expatriate
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Play 33 Chapter 30a Expatriate
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Play 34 Chapter 30b Expatriate
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Play 35 Chapter 31 Expatriate
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Play 36 Chapter 32 Expatriate
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