Mary Wollaston

In 1919 Chicago, Miss Lucile Wollaston watches her brilliant brother Dr. John Wollaston navigate breakfast with the easy confidence of a man admired by everyone except, perhaps, those who know him best. Beneath the polished surface of his marriage to the radiant Paula and the household's cultured wit lies a family history of grief, estrangement, and unspoken longing, especially the painful break with his daughter Mary, whose name still unsettles him. As old tensions surface over music, money, and manners, Paula's artistic ambitions collide with John's possessive tenderness and growing unease. A chance piano tuner, an out-of-tune instrument, and a visiting accompanist all become part of a deeper emotional reckoning. When illness forces John into a period of rest, he and Paula finally speak with startling honesty about sacrifice, ambition, jealousy, and the future. What begins as a domestic scene becomes a moving study of late love, the cost of devotion, and the fragile balance between personal fulfillment and marital duty. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.