My Uncle Florimond by Henry Harland (1888)

This is as close as 1888 got to a 'young adult' novel. We meet Gregory Brace at 12, living in Connecticut with his grandmother and nasty uncle, and learning about the illustrious history of his now reduced family back in France - the de la Bourbonnayes. This is where the fantasy of visiting his grandmother's brother Florimond, still in France, first takes hold, along with notions of his aristocratic grandeur. Then his beloved grandmother dies, and, left with his nasty uncle, life loses colour. He has an adventure saving a fisherman's pole which has been dropped in a river-flood. The eccentric Jewish gentleman up from New York, whose pole it was, swears allegiance to him in his gratefulness. When life becomes too miserable Gregory cuts ties with his uncle and heads off to the big smoke to find him. Harland has a really deft touch with the vocalisations and habits of Jewish New York as Gregory explores that world, and learns quite a few life lessons along the way. Finally, at 15, we see him meet his Uncle Florimond who, though he is not the admirable and wealthy man Gregory had imagined, emerges as a partner in life's journey, echoing Gregory's growing maturity and his sense of life's realities. This is Harland's most engaging book of those I've read - I imagined how it would sound read aloud to an upper primary class, and was surprised by its muscle and strength.