Cassandra Morgeson, daughter of a prosperous merchant in a Massachusetts seaport, tells her own story from a wilful childhood through schooling, a charged stay with her married cousin Charles and his wife Alice, and her entanglement with the brooding Desmond Somers. Her strange, delicate sister Veronica offers a counterpoint as both young women test the limits placed on them.
A bold, unconventional American novel of 1862, admired today for its intensity and its candid heroine. Download the free EPUB.