
In a modest English town, a young woman named Clemence navigates the delicate balance between duty and desire. As the schoolmistress of Waveland, she finds herself caught between the expectations of her aristocratic mother and the pull of her own heart, especially when two very different suitors—an earnest artist and a wealthy heir— vie for her affection. The story unfolds amid tender moments of prayer, family strife, and the lingering hope of a simpler life.
Through intimate dialogue and vivid domestic scenes, the narrative explores themes of class, faith, and the yearning for independence that simmer beneath genteel propriety. Clemence’s relationship with her mother, a proud and sometimes scornful matriarch, reveals the generational clash of values that shapes her choices. Listeners are invited into a world where love, ambition, and societal pressure intertwine, promising a poignant glimpse into the heroine’s early struggles and the possibilities that lie ahead.
Full title
Clemence The Schoolmistress of Waveland
Language
en
Duration
~6 hours (400K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Curtis Weyant, Sigal Alon and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images produced by the Wright American Fiction Project.)
Release date
2006-03-04
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

A little-known 19th-century American novelist, remembered today for sentimental fiction rooted in faith, hardship, and perseverance. Her surviving work offers a glimpse of popular domestic storytelling in post-Civil War America.
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