I will exceptionally us the summary written by the literary critic Elaine Showalter in 1982 and found on the Wikipedia page of this novel because its accurate and with a slight sense of humour : “Braddon’s bigamous heroine deserts her child, pushes husband number one down a well, thinks about poisoning husband number two and sets fire to a hotel in which her other male acquaintances are residing”. And poor Robert Audley, husband number one’s best friend, sets out to uncover this whole secret. As a reward, he who thought his heart was a stone, will find love. A very good novel, with a lovely British touch to it.
“She looked very pretty and innocent, seated behind the graceful group of delicate opal china and glittering silver. Surely a pretty woman never looks prettier than when making tea. The most feminine and most domestic of all occupations imparts a magic harmony to her every movement, a witchery to her every glance. The floating mists from the boiling liquid in which she infuses the soothing herbs, whose secrets are known to her alone, envelop her in a cloud of scented vapour, through which she seems a social fairy, weaving potent spells with Gunpowder and Bohea. At the tea-table she reigns omnipotent, unapproachable. What do men know of the mysterious beverage?”
Listened to as an audiobook