Ouida 
The Waters of Edera (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

The novelist G. K. Chesterton remarked of this 1900 novel, ‘Though it is impossible not to smile at Ouida, it is equally impossible not to read her.’  The river Edera runs through bucolic farmland outside of Rome.  When a plan arises to dam the river for a hydroelectric plant, the local farmers and peasants violently resist.

About the author

Ouida (1839-1908), born Maria Louise Ramé, was a prolific English writer of novels for adults and children.  A self-proclaimed “serious artist, ” her works combined social commentary with swashbuckling adventure plots that often veered into melodrama.  After a life as extravagant as her fiction, she died in poverty in Italy.