Wintersmoon

Hugh Walpole’s Wintersmoon turns the romance novel on its head. Janet Grandison and Wildherne Poole marry for companionship and convenience. Love isn’t part of the arrangement. Janet wants to give her sister Rosalind a home; Wildherne wants an heir to his title and estate that the married woman he loves can’t give him. Nothing goes according to plan. Rosalind and Wildherne can’t stand each other. She marries a man she doesn’t love to get out of living at Wintersmoon. Janet gets on the wrong side of Wildherne’s mother and her entourage. Then she finds herself in love with her husband and pregnant with his child. Wildherne has grown to love Janet as well, but neither says anything because they agreed to a loveless marriage. Their son’s death brings their marriage to a crisis that has far-reaching repercussions.