Clemence

Clemence Graystone faces poverty with a confidence that her anxious mother struggles to share. Raised in comfort, the young woman values kindness and loyalty above the family pride that shapes Mrs. Graystone's judgments. Retta B. Babcock opens this American novel with their intimate conversation, then turns to neighbors whose gossip and boasts expose the gap between public respectability and private motives.

Christian faith gives the story much of its language and emotional force. Prayer steadies Clemence, while a later account of Mrs. Westbourne's troubled marriage brings threats, isolation and concern for a daughter into view. The contrast between outward appearances and suffering within a household gives the book an interest beyond its schoolmistress setting. Readers drawn to nineteenth-century fiction about women's lives will find family affection, social ambition and the difficulty of judging character woven through its earnest dialogue.