Fanny Lambert

In Frank Leavesley's cheerful but debt-ridden studio, romance and trouble arrive together. The young painter is in love with the spirited Fanny Lambert, whose beauty, innocence, and impulsive courage quickly upset the balance of his comic, precarious world. When Fanny reveals that her father is being crushed by an expensive legal fight over fishing rights with their wealthy cousin, Mr. Bevan, Leavesley and his eccentric friend Mr. Verneede are swept into a chain of bold and often absurd decisions that send them across London in rattling cabs and into fresh embarrassment. At the center of the story is James Hancock, a prosperous Bloomsbury solicitor whose respectable life is built on discretion, routine, and buried secrets. His stern household, ruled by his formidable sister Patience and shadowed by the anxious clerk Bridgewater, begins to crack when Fanny's bright, unconventional presence awakens feelings he can no longer hide. As Hancock and Fanny spend a day together in shops, cafés, and the Zoo, flirtation, misunderstanding, and comic pursuit turn ordinary errands into a lively test of propriety, desire, and family suspicion. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.