The Ordeal of Richard Feverel

After his wife runs off with a poet, the wounded baronet Sir Austin Feverel resolves to raise his son according to a rigid scheme he calls the System, a plan meant to shield the boy from every temptation, women above all. The scheme survives contact with the world about as well as such schemes ever do. Young Richard falls hard for Lucy Desborough, a farmer’s niece his father would never approve, and the clash between paternal control and first love turns by degrees from comedy toward something darker. Meredith’s early novel is famous for its wit, its shrewd psychology, and its unsentimental view of how good intentions can wreck the very people they mean to protect. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.