£12
ISBN: 978-1-905335-07-7

Kate Peyton is the most beautiful and sought-after heiress in Cumberland . But she has yet to make any choice, and as a committed Roman Catholic dreams of a religious life rather than of marriage. Then Griffith Gaunt wins her heart by his devotion and for a while the young couple are happy.

In this penetrating study of how love is destroyed by jealousy and pride, Griffith cannot accept that his wife’s relationship with a priest is innocent. As his anger rises, it leads him at last to destroy his marriage, change his name and contract a bigamous relationship with Mercy Vint. His disappearance and presumed death land Kate in the dock, on trial for his murder. Will her skilful self-defence, and Mercy’s last-minute evidence, be enough to save her from hanging?

Charles Reade, a leading novelist of the nineteenth century, based his novels on detailed research, giving them today a fascinating air of realism. His classic historical novel, The Cloister and the Hearth, is also available from Traviata Books.