The New Mistress

Hazel Thorne begins her teaching post at Plumton All Saints while trying to comfort a mother who regards their small home and reduced income as humiliations. Her first morning brings an awkward courtesy from the boys' schoolmaster, Samuel Chute, and a chilly welcome from the vicar's sisters. Around the school gathers a town keenly aware of money, manners and family standing, including William Forth Burge, a prosperous former butcher who has given land for the buildings.

George Manville Fenn's novel places Hazel's daily responsibilities beside the demands others make upon her. Her mother encourages Edward Geringer's hopes of marriage and dismisses Chute as an unsuitable match, leaving Hazel struggling to contain her distress. Comic descriptions of local importance sit alongside intimate scenes of family pressure. Readers interested in women's work and English social customs will find a story concerned with the cost of maintaining gentility when practical needs press hard.