Gwendoline

In fog-bound London, the steady lawyer Stuart Selwyn and his anxious young wife Isobel are drawn into a story that moves from drawing rooms to cliffs, cottages, and a stern seaside estate. At Riversmouth, the formidable Lady Halcot rules an old-fashioned town with iron self-command, resisting not only change but the quiet evangelical work growing around the parish church and chapel. When the gifted, impoverished artist Gwendoline Halcombe appears, her beauty, independence, and practical faith stir sympathy, mystery, and long-buried family tensions. As Selwyn visits the coast, he meets Gwendoline in a moment of rest and candor, then finds himself drawn into Lady Halcot's carefully ordered world, where obedience, duty, and hidden history shape every interaction. Gwendoline is welcomed into luxury at The Leys, but the generosity comes with strict control over her dress, possessions, and daily life. Meanwhile, the ordinary domestic life of the Widringtons offers a quieter counterpoint, exposing the emptiness that can lie beneath comfort. Through letters and private reflections, Gwendoline wrestles with pride, homesickness, and the difficult discipline of contentment, even as she longs to be useful and free. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.