A young man's fortune hinges on marriage and fatherhood, but only if he produces a son named for his benefactor. This is Victorian-era moral fiction at its most incisive: Eugene Hungerford inherits three million dollars from his Baltimore uncle, but the money comes with strings that threaten to corrupt everything he values. He must wed and sire a son called John before thirty, or the estate passes to others. The cruelest twist: Eugene loves Mary Kingman, a woman he met when he and his friend Dick rescued her boat on the harbor. Yet now that he has money, he fears any expression of feeling will seem like purchase rather than passion. Meanwhile, the charismatic marine painter Eliot Buckstone circles with obvious interest in Mary, and Eugene's wounded pride threatens to cost him everything he cares about. Set among the mills and islands of fictional Poppleton, this novel dissects theTransaction between love and money with sharp observation and period-appropriate sympathy for the binds of duty, family, and integrity.
