'She was every inch the parson’s daughter,
with the clear light of Christian courage showing through. But there was
something else: she was a woman of the world too, a woman, clearly, who had
lived'.
Sophie Woodville's return to Wenham, the thriving Dorset market town of
her birth, is not a happy one. Her secret marriage to George, heir to the
Woodville baronetcy, incurred the wrath not only of her husband's family but also
of her own. Now George is dead, tragically young, and his widow and two
children have come home.
The loss of the
Woodville heir is keenly felt by the whole parish, but most of all by his own
family. His mother is seriously ill and the wild, indulgent lifestyle of the
only surviving son, Carson, has already brought the once venerated family name
into disrepute. Worst of all, the estate is in such desperate financial straits
that they may have to sell the ancestral home.
Sophie is no
stranger to misfortune, and her strength enables the Woodvilles first to
forgive and then to lean on her. However she herself is almost brought to grief
by a passionate attachment most unsuitable in a rector's daughter. Then rescue
for the family fortunes appears in an unlikely form; but at a high price.
Carson, the darling of Dorset's maids and scourge of their fathers, must marry
for money, just as his father had done ...
with the clear light of Christian courage showing through. But there was
something else: she was a woman of the world too, a woman, clearly, who had
lived'.
Sophie Woodville's return to Wenham, the thriving Dorset market town of
her birth, is not a happy one. Her secret marriage to George, heir to the
Woodville baronetcy, incurred the wrath not only of her husband's family but also
of her own. Now George is dead, tragically young, and his widow and two
children have come home.
The loss of the
Woodville heir is keenly felt by the whole parish, but most of all by his own
family. His mother is seriously ill and the wild, indulgent lifestyle of the
only surviving son, Carson, has already brought the once venerated family name
into disrepute. Worst of all, the estate is in such desperate financial straits
that they may have to sell the ancestral home.
Sophie is no
stranger to misfortune, and her strength enables the Woodvilles first to
forgive and then to lean on her. However she herself is almost brought to grief
by a passionate attachment most unsuitable in a rector's daughter. Then rescue
for the family fortunes appears in an unlikely form; but at a high price.
Carson, the darling of Dorset's maids and scourge of their fathers, must marry
for money, just as his father had done ...