
Leone is a striking young woman whose dark, passionate beauty seems out of place amid the quiet English farm where she lives. Though surrounded by golden fields and a sleepy village, she feels trapped by the monotony of rural chores and dreams of a life filled with adventure and purpose. Her sharp wit and restless spirit set the stage for a story that explores the clash between duty and desire.
One day, while watching the cattle at the farm gate, she notices two handsome strangers strolling the high‑road, and one of them—caught by her striking presence—offers a fleeting, courteous salute. That brief, charged encounter awakens a yearning she can no longer ignore, hinting at a romance that could shatter the comfortable confines of her world. As Leone balances contempt for her surroundings with the pull of newfound intrigue, listeners are invited to follow her journey toward a love that may be as mad as it is transformative.
Language
en
Duration
~10 hours (596K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2010-03-03
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1836–1884
A hugely popular Victorian novelist, she wrote fast-moving romance and sensation stories that reached an enormous readership in Britain and America. Publishing under the name Bertha M. Clay, she became especially famous for melodramatic bestsellers like Dora Thorne.
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