Frances Hodgson Burnett 
A Lady of Quality 

In this classic work of historical fiction, Frances Hodgson Burnett, most famous for writing The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, turns her hand to much darker themes than ever before. Set in late seventeenth-century England, amidst the ribbons and romance of courtship A Lady of Quality tackles violence and manipulation, blackmail and even murder. When Clorinda is born, the odds seem stacked against her. First and foremost, she is a girl like all her sisters before her and her father wants only a son. Furthermore, her mother dies in childbirth, and her father, considering all his daughters worthless, refuses contact. Despite this, Clorinda Wildairs manages not only to survive, but to grow up into a very remarkable and strong-willed child. Thus when father and daughter happen to meet for the first time, he is astonished and amused in equal measure to learn that this little six-year-old girl, who is lecturing and scolding him freely, is in fact his youngest child and so develops a close bond between them. The hot-headed young girl grows up to be a beautiful young woman with a sharp tongue and a will of iron. But being able to have anything you want can be dangerous, and surely Clorinda’s good fortune cannot last forever. When the dark side of her personality causes her to lash out in anger and violence at someone she loves, she may be forced not only into a dramatic whirlwind of events, but also into reassessing what it means to be a Lady of Quality.