Mrs. Dymond

In Victorian England, Susanna Holcombe possesses a temperament too vivid, too questioning for the narrow role society permits women. Too spirited for her family's comfort and too independent for the marriage market's expectations, she finds herself almost by default wed to the respectable Colonel Dymond. But what begins as an unequal match becomes something more complex as Susanna discovers that carving out a place for oneself requires more than mere compliance. Ritchie, daughter of the great satirist Thackeray, writes with keen psychological precision about the quiet domestic battles women fought, the small rebellions that went unnoticed by history but meant everything to those living them. For readers who found Austen's constrained heroines maddening and wished they had spoken louder, this novel answers that longing. Perfect for fans of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's daring heroines and Anthony Trollope's social breadth.