Vixen

M. E. Braddon's Vixen begins in the moonlit New Forest, where Roderick Vawdrey catches sight of Violet Tempest—the fearless, freckled fifteen-year-old everyone calls Vixen—leaping a gate on her gray pony with reckless grace. Bright, teasing, and impossible to resist, she banters her way into his company and draws him back to Abbey House, where old family history, rambling stables, loyal dogs, and country-house comfort frame her vivid, unruly charm. Inside the Tempest household, Vixen's love of horses, hunting, travel, and adventure stands in lively contrast to the expectations of adulthood, society, and marriage. Her mother, Mrs. Tempest, is elegant and unchanged by time, while the Squire's good humor and the house's warm, antique elegance create a world of affectionate domesticity, teasing, and social observation. But beneath the wit and rustic ease, Braddon quietly builds toward tragedy. When the doctor confirms the Squire cannot be saved, Violet's childhood collapses, and Abbey House is transformed by grief. As mother and daughter mourn in very different ways, Roderick returns to find the once-radiant Vixen pale with sorrow, their tender meeting offering a fragile note of consolation amid loss. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.