Ruth

Published in 1853, this novel follows Ruth Hilton, a young seamstress seduced and abandoned by a gentleman, Mr Bellingham. Taken in by a dissenting minister, Thurstan Benson, and his sister, she lives in a provincial town under a false identity as a widow and raises her son while working as a governess. The plot turns on Bellingham's return as a political candidate and on the exposure of Ruth's past to employers and congregation. The book is a social novel about illegitimacy, charity, and public shame, not a romance of moral reform.

Bound in gilt pattern blocked blue cloth with gilt foil panel on spine. Blue-grey slipcase.