The novel (1876) follows the fortunes of Ethelberta, one of the numerous family of Chicherel, a butler. She marries the son of the house where she is governess, only to be widowed by the time she is 21, but attempts to retain her social position, while concealing her relationship to the butler. Finally, she marries a wicked old peer, while her faithful admirer, the musician Christopher Julian, is left to marry her sister Picotee. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The tale of an opportunistic yet ultimately loyal adventuress who begins life humbly and ends as the wife of a rakish aristocrat, THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA will surprise readers of Thomas Hardy's more familiar, and darker, Wessex novels. Hardy combines elements of domestic melodrama and drawing-room farce with calculated irreverence for literary form. 11 illustrations.
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