A Life's Secret

At twenty-one, Austin Clay has completed his training with Richard Thornimett, a builder and contractor in the English town of Ketterford. Taken into the Thornimetts' home after losing his parents, he has learned a practical trade while continuing his studies. The opening places him between the building yard and the household that has raised him, with town gossip already imagining a partnership. His enjoyment of Homer also brings him into a friendly disagreement with Mrs. Thornimett over the value of book learning.

Henry Wood's novel connects this domestic setting with disputes over employment and collective action. A later scene brings workmen together to debate a proposed strike, as Sam Shuck urges union membership and another worker challenges the pressure to join. Employers then arrange a lockout and demand an agreement from their men. Readers interested in the social arguments of British fiction will find wages, family responsibilities and competing claims to freedom given concrete voices.