My Terminal Moraine

Walter Cuthbert inherits a country house and forty acres, then lets the property grow shabby while he enjoys books, fishing and shooting. His easy habits become a serious obstacle when he falls in love with Agnes Havelot, whose wealthy father opposes their courtship. A visit from Walter's energetic friend Tom Burton, a geologist, introduces another way of looking at the land: the bluff beneath the house was formed by an ancient glacier.

Stockton brings this romance into contact with the practical possibilities and dangers of ice. In an underground chamber where blocks are being removed, Walter faces a sudden collapse that seals the entrance and leaves him struggling to keep warm. Told in Walter's own voice, the story pairs his complaints about money and parental authority with close descriptions of the ground beneath his estate. Readers interested in unusual romantic fiction will find geology woven into a young landowner's personal troubles.