Dorothy Evelyn Smith

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A female narrator looks back on her childhood in a coming-of-age novel set before the First World War. Ruan is an intelligent and imaginative child, who gradually comes to understand the nuances of the adult world around her, as she moves from the Manse, under the strict rule of her father, a non-conformist minister, to Cobbetts, her mother's ancestral home, under the tutelage of her Uncle Alaric, and back to the guardianship of Rosie Day at Bolton House high up on the moor above the town where she was born. Her young life is shaped by a series of tragedies, but also the warmth of enduring friendships, particularly with David, her dearest friend who shares her love of the wild expanse and colours of the moor.

"I do not anticipate for one moment that Miss Plum has been murdered, though I should have some slight sympathy with her assassin if she had." Miss Penny is a middle-aged spinster living a cheerful, contented life, complete with perfect housekeeper, in an idyllic English village. Her romantic life consists of an annual Christmas card from her old flame George, and her social swirl involves Stanley, a prissy neighbour who keeps her in mind for a future wife, and Hubert, a neurotic widowed priest with an alienated son. Into this stable life comes Miss Plum, whom Miss Penny saves from drowning herself in a duck pond and takes into her quiet, orderly home. The villagers embrace the perpetually weepy, forlorn young woman-at first. But soon her welcome wears thin. With joyfully dark comedy, hilariously odd locals, and an unexpected reappearance from long-lost George, Dorothy Evelyn Smith brilliantly evokes the havoc wreaked by social niceties, misplaced sympathies, and keeping up appearances-not to mention the urge to defend one's peaceful existence