Lady Maude's Mania

Wedding preparations expose the strained affections of a titled household in George Manville Fenn's social romance. At the family's Portland Place mansion, the Earl of Barmouth worries about his daughter Diana's marriage and her coming departure for India. His son Tom, Viscount Diphoos, answers with jokes, but grows angry when the servants treat his father as someone whose wishes can be ignored.

The household's marriage plans also bear down on Maude. Her mother prizes wealthy, well-connected matches, while the confidential maid Justine listens to complaints, keeps secrets and helps arrange Maude's visit to a hairdresser. Fenn builds these scenes through lively exchanges, comic physical detail and a sharp sense of differences in rank. Behind the fuss over clothes, health and proper behaviour lies a more serious struggle over family authority and personal preference. Readers interested in domestic comedy can follow how tenderness and pressure shape aristocratic family life.