Sybil

First published in 1845, this Condition-of-England novel follows Charles Egremont, a younger son who sits in Parliament, and Sybil Gerard, daughter of a Chartist artisan, across the industrial north and London in the years of the Charter. Factory towns, a ruined monastery, and aristocratic houses are set against each other to argue that England has become two nations, the rich and the poor. Riot, electioneering, and a withheld inheritance drive the plot. The book is a political novel of class and marriage, not a parliamentary history and not a biography of the author.

Bound in yellow cloth with an illustration in dark green by Lambourne. Dark green endleaves. Yellow-brown slipcase.