Vera Nevill

In the quiet village of Sutton‑in‑the‑Wold, the newly married Rev. Eustace Daintree enjoys a modest but comfortable life with his gentle wife Marion. Their peace unravels when Eustace’s widowed mother moves in, her presence turning the snug vicarage into a battleground of wills. Marion, ever dutiful, learns to navigate the old woman’s temper and demands, sacrificing her own happiness to keep the household afloat.

Amid this domestic turbulence arrives Vera Nevill, a strikingly beautiful young woman whose wit and spirit seem both a blessing and a danger to the fraught family. She quickly becomes a catalyst for hidden resentments and unspoken hopes, offering the Daintrees a glimpse of a different kind of freedom. The novel explores how love, duty, and the stubbornness of tradition collide, leaving each character to wrestle with the cost of a peace that may be more fragile than it appears.