The Second Fiddle

The title says it all: Stella Waring has spent her life in the wings. As a secretary at a London town hall, she's the reliable one, the steady hand, the second fiddle to her more glamorous sister Eurydice. But beneath the competent surface, Stella nurses her own fierce ambitions - for culture, for passion, for a life that belongs to her. When war begins to gather on the horizon and the cultured world of London pulses with nervous energy, Stella finds herself caught between duty to her demanding family and her own desperate hunger for something more. Her relationship with the enigmatic Sir Julian Verny hints that she might finally step into her own light - if she dares. Phyllis Bottome writes with sharp insight about the invisible labor of women, the tyranny of family expectation, and the terrifying freedom of choosing oneself.