Violet "Vixen" Tempest wakes determined to leave Abbey House behind, convinced her presence only worsens the pain and conflict she has brought to the household. But Captain Winstanley has already arranged her exile: she is to be sent to Jersey, under the supervision of his aunt and Miss Skipwith, far from the Forest, her companions, and the life she loves. Their confrontation is cold and bitter, exposing the depth of their mutual hostility, yet Violet's defiance gives way to the grim realization that departure may be the only escape from misery. She endures wrenching farewells to her mother, her horse Arion, her dog Argus, and loyal Phoebe before traveling by carriage, then by crowded, cheerless sea crossing, grieving as though she is being severed from home forever. Back at Abbey House and Ashbourne, absence leaves its own ache: the household seems dimmer without Violet, while Mrs. Winstanley sinks deeper into loneliness and decline, hiding her unhappiness behind tea, embroidery, and the role of invalid. Meanwhile, Lady Mabel's marriage preparations unfold amid luxury and social display, even as she suffers over the failure of her poetry and the humiliating reviews of The Tragedy of a Sceptic Soul. In this world of pride, rivalry, and wounded feeling, every comfort carries a cost. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Braddon, M. E.

M. E. Braddon, born Mary Elizabeth Braddon in 1835 in London, emerged from a difficult family background to become one of the most popular and commercially successful writers of the Victorian era. After a brief and unconventional early life that included work on the stage and in the world of publishing, she went on to build a formidable literary career, producing a vast body of fiction, journalism, and editorial work that made her a household name. Braddon is best remembered as a master of sensation fiction, a genre she helped shape with her sharp plotting, psychological tension, and gift for exposing the secrets lurking beneath respectable surfaces. Her novels often explore marriage, class, inheritance, female independence, and the social cost of hypocrisy, while also delivering the dramatic suspense and emotional intensity that kept readers eagerly turning the pages. What makes her work feel strikingly modern is its attention to the pressures placed on women, the instability of appearances, and the uneasy gap between public virtue and private desire. Braddon’s influence can still be felt in later crime, domestic, and gothic fiction, and her career stands as a reminder that popular literature can be both entertaining and socially perceptive. Today, readers interested in Victorian society, strong female characters, and elegantly suspenseful storytelling will find her work especially rewarding.