The Duke's Daughter

In Mrs. Oliphant's The Duke's Daughter, romance unfolds under the pressure of rank, duty, and public scrutiny, while danger and emotional conflict shadow every promise of happiness. A wedding day at St Alban's turns comic and uneasy when the rector delays the ceremony for an earlier churching, exposing the awkward collision of class, clerical obligation, and social expectation. Elsewhere, the Duke is publicly humbled into self-knowledge, and the cold distance between him and the Duchess reveals a marriage corroded by pride and resentment. Yet the novel also moves toward reconciliation: Lady Jane escapes confinement, faces her father with quiet dignity, and wins forgiveness that restores the family. She reunites with her mother and marries Winton the next morning, setting gossip and resentment stirring through society. Alongside this domestic drama, Helen Goulburn appears in a vast, eerie country house, then confronts a deeper crisis when bankruptcy and disgrace threaten her family in Sainte-Barbe. A sudden meeting with Charley Ashton briefly lightens the tension, but the Goulburns' hurried night departure leaves Helen burdened by secrets and uncertainty. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.