An Engagement of Convenience: A Novel

A modest young woman named Alice lives in a respectable Hampstead house, where from her corner‑room window she watches the charismatic painter Wyndham set up his studio. His handsome bearing, the swirl of fashionable visitors and the glitter of exhibitions fill her imagination, and she spends hours hunting his pictures in magazines and galleries. Though her family knows only of the neighbor, Alice’s secret admiration grows into a quiet, private devotion.

When a sudden bankruptcy shatters Wyndham’s social standing, Alice’s world is jolted, and she begins to notice the studio’s slow emptiness—fewer guests, canceled commissions, and a lingering melancholy in his eyes. The novel follows her delicate observations as the once‑vibrant artist retreats into a hushed routine, while Alice grapples with the gap between romantic ideals and the stark realities of an artist’s life.