
A young woman, barely out of her teens, arrives at a physician’s office haunted by the loss of her own child. She is desperate to bring a new baby into her life, and the doctor, with a practiced calm, presents a discreet solution: a child sourced from a poor mother who will never see the infant again. The arrangement is wrapped in secrecy, promising the woman a fresh start while raising unsettling questions about the cost of her peace.
Set against the backdrop of a rigid society that values appearances, the story follows her uneasy journey as she navigates the moral shadows of her choice. The narrative captures the tension between compassion and exploitation, hinting at the fragile bonds that tie strangers together. Listeners will be drawn into the quiet drama of a hidden adoption and the lingering echo of a sorrowful heart.
Language
en
Duration
~8 hours (466K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Shaun Pinder, Diane Monico, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive and HathiTrust.org)
Release date
2015-05-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1836–1901
A Victorian novelist and social historian, he wrote lively fiction, helped found the Society of Authors, and became one of the best-known literary champions of London’s history and everyday life.
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