Nena

In early 1901, 15 years after Little Lord Fauntleroy and 10 years before The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote The Making of a Marchioness. She followed this short novel in the spring of the same year with the sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. The satisfying Cinderella quality of the first book which illustrated the harsh realism of Edwardian society, combines with the exciting melodramatic developments in the second book to create an intriguing story that continues to entertain us today.

The Bette referred to in this magnificent novel's title is Lisbeth Fischer, an excruciatingly cunning poor relation who both depends upon and nurses a terrible grudge against the family of her beautiful cousin, Adeline. That family is slowly being ruined by the uncontrollable sexual appetites of Adeline's husband, Baron Hulot - appetites that will, in time, give Cousin Bette opportunity to exact her vengeance.

Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.