A Mad Love

Leone Noel longs for a life beyond her uncle's English farm, where talk of crops and everyday chores leave her restless. When a handsome young gentleman bows to her at the gate, his admiration changes her mood. Learning that he is a lord gives the encounter a further meaning: attention from a different social world seems to promise the excitement she wants. Charlotte M. Brame opens this romance with a sharp contrast between peaceful countryside and Leone's impatient ambitions.

Later, Lord Chandos faces pressure from his mother to choose Lady Marion over Leone. Family approval and social standing compete with his sense of honor, while an evening at the Alhambra places romantic feeling against a richly described setting. Readers interested in nineteenth-century love stories will find emotional argument, divided loyalties, and a narrator who judges broken promises openly. The excerpts make questions of rank and responsibility central to the relationships.