Easthope, an old Tudor mansion, has been kept in the self-respecting Trefusis family since the times of Henry the Seventh. Now the estate is receiving a visit from a young woman, Janet Black, of remarkable beauty -- so remarkable, in fact, that a portrait of her to be painted in a few years' time will stun the art world. Miss Black might have expected open arms and festive celebration to welcome her to Easthope -- for she is arriving as one who will take on the Trefusis name, and who will oversee Easthope alongside the young man now mainly known as "the Squire," George Trefusis. Yet Mrs. Trefusis, the Squire's mother, is disturbed at her son's choice. Janet is striking, but without breeding. Uncouth, clumsy, and ignorant: what is to be done with such a girl so utterly common? And what, for that matter, is to be done with such a son as George, who falls so easily and so completely for such empty beauty?

Author Biography

Mary Cholmondeley (1859 - 1925) was an English novelist. She began writing with serious intent in her teens. She wrote in her journal in 1877, "What a pleasure and interest it would be to me in life to write books. I must strike out a line of some kind, and if I do not marry (for at best that is hardly likely, as I possess neither beauty nor charms) I should want some definite occupation, besides the home duties." She succeeded in publishing some stories in The Graphic and elsewhere. Her first novel was The Danvers Jewels (1887), a detective story that won her a small following. It appeared in the Temple Bar magazine published by Richard Bentley, after fellow novelist Rhoda Broughton had introduced her to George Bentley. It was followed by Sir Charles Danvers (1889), Diana Tempest (1893) and A Devotee (1897). The satirical Red Pottage (1899) was a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic and is reprinted occasionally. It satirizes religious hypocrisy and the narrowness of country life and was denounced from a London pulpit as immoral. It was equally sensational because it "explored the issues of female sexuality and vocation, recurring topics in late-Victorian debates about the New Women." Despite the book's great success, however, the author received little money for it because she had sold the copyright.