A Woman of Fortune
The heroine, Lydia, lives in a small house near Beverley in Yorkshire in 1860. Her life is very comfortable; she has a cook, a maid and a bathroom with a water closet. Her father is the head of a law firm and employs her husband of three years. Her family gives her financial security but little emotional warmth or comfort. Her husband may arouse readers’ suspicions, but their attention will quickly be diverted by a tragedy affecting Lydia’s neighbour, Matthew Wade.
Mr Wade is a carpenter with six children and newly arrived twins; his wife has not survived their birth. His employer has just sacked him. He faces these misfortunes with courage and humour. Lydia helps with the children and comes to love them; they are rather delightful. Helped by falling in love with Matthew, she develops an ambition to take hold of her own life and, with the help of her father, she takes a very daring and courageous decision.
The writing is wonderfully readable, especially the blossoming of love between the two main characters. The children speak with Yorkshire accents, and there is a reference to a local dish, ‘pobs’, but the setting is not overdone. The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1859 is mentioned, but we are spared forensic detail.
