Five Thousand Pounds

In a quiet cottage on the edge of town, Phœbe grows up amid the comforts and confusions of a family held together by her devout grandmother's steady hand. Her father is kind and dependable but spiritually adrift, her mother affectionate yet careless, and her younger brother Asaph spoiled and resistant to discipline, while Phœbe herself has learned industry, order, and reverence from Grannie's example. Through Sunday routines, sermons on temptation, and evenings of family talk, the novel builds a subtle tension between outward ease and inward moral strength. That tension explodes when Miles unexpectedly inherits five thousand pounds, and the household is swept into dreams of silk dresses, social advancement, and a better house. Grannie sees the money not as a prize but as a test of character, urging prayer, humility, and concern for the wronged young Morison. As neighbors, clergymen, and the fashionable Johnstones draw the family further into worldly excitement, Phœbe feels the strain between conscience and ambition. Witty, observant, and deeply moral, this domestic story explores faith, vanity, duty, and the true meaning of gentility. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.