For Love and Life Vol. II

A man prideful enough to let love and livelihood slip through his fingers finds himself with no choice but to humble himself before a man he has every reason to despise. Edgar's carefully constructed plans have collapsed. His finances are in ruins. The woman he intends to propose to, his dear Gussy, now seems as distant as the comfortable future he once imagined for himself. To save himself from complete destruction, he must swallow his pride, seek out Lord Newmarch, and beg for employment. But what of Gussy? Does love survive such humiliating circumstances, or does it curdle into something else entirely? Margaret Oliphant writes with her characteristic psychological precision about the torture of wounded pride, the fragile machinery of Victorian social climbing, and the way financial desperation can poison even the purest intentions. For readers who savor the interior dramas of Trollope or the emotional honesty of George Eliot, this is a novel about what happens when a man's carefully maintained dignity collides with the uncaring machinery of the world.