This novel opens in Chelsea, at the house of the Hilberys, a family dominated by the memory of their Victorian ancestor, the poet Richard Alardyce. Katharine Hi... » 

This novel opens in Chelsea, at the house of the Hilberys, a family dominated by the memory of their Victorian ancestor, the poet Richard Alardyce. Katharine Hilbery at first acquiesces in favour of marriage to William Rodney, rejecting Ralph Denham for whom she feels a more profound affinity. «