Molly Bawn

The novel that made Margaret Wolfe Hungerford famous at nineteen. Molly Massereene is bored in her rural Irish estate, pining for something anything to happen. Then Lieutenant Tedcastle Luttrell arrives, and suddenly the dull countryside crackles with possibility. Molly is sprightly, sharp-tongued, and absolutely determined to be courted. What follows is a delicious game of flirtation and wit, played out against the rolling pastures and parlor rooms of Victorian Ireland. Hungerford writes with a fizz that feels almost modern. Molly's voice is quick, funny, and unapologetically interested in love. The romance has genuine spark, more humor than sentiment, and the kind of heroine who knows what she wants. It captures something of the way young women began to claim desire in an era that preferred them silent. This is the book that made Hungerford a sensation, the one readers in the 1880s devoured and couldn't stop talking about. It still has the power to charm.