Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 452: Volume 18, New Series, August 28, 1852

This August 1852 issue of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal presents a vivid portrait of a young woman navigating the treacherous waters of Victorian high society. Frances Seymour has just turned seventeen and, orphaned and heiress to a comfortable fortune, finds herself at the mercy of her aunt Mrs. Wentworth and her late father's dying wish: an arranged marriage to Major Elliott, a young officer of decent but not spectacular prospects. But Frances has witnessed enough of the marriage market to know what she does and does not want. As the season begins, she draws the eye of every eligible man in London, from the earnest to the opportunistic, yet refuses them all, including the insufferably handsome Lieutenant Vincent Dunbar. What follows is a sparkling game of cat and mouse as Frances attempts to carve out a space for genuine feeling in a world that treats hearts as currency. The story captures perfectly that vertiginous moment between girlhood and womanhood, where the whole of one's future seems to hang on a single season's decisions.