Heartsease

Violet Moss, the apparent heroine of Heartsease, is barely 16 years old - pretty, humble, and ignorant - when she marries charming, handsome, selfish, and improvident Arthur Martindale. His upper-crust family at first deplore the match; but Violet is quickly befriended by Arthur's kindhearted brother John; and, over the course of the story, she wins every heart with her sweetness, meekness, and religious faith. For me the real heroine of the book, however, is Arthur's sister, Theodora, whose willfulness, passion, and benevolence make her a far more interesting character than the cloyingly sweet, submissive, and tediously pious Violet. Percy Fotheringham loves Theodora for her noble nature, despite its flaws, and determines to "tame the shrew"; but he finds, after they become engaged, that her "besetting sins" are more difficult to correct than he had imagined. They quarrel, and part; and both must come to recognise and conquer their own failings, before they can be happily reunited at the conclusion. The plot of Heartsease is at times dramatic, encompassing not only family and romantic difficulties, but illness, fire, and money troubles.