Margaret Mackenzie doesn't have much of a life. At 35, she's single and lacks beauty and brilliance. Her middle-class relatives neglect her, so she's relegated to nursing her ailing brother. But when her brother dies and leaves her his fortune, the new-found money generates a life with unexpected twists and turns.

She's swindled out of part of her inheritiance and her relations battle for the rest. With no prior marriage prospects, she's suddenly courted by three men. Unwittingly, she makes enemies and finds herself in a scandal.

With insight and compassion, Trollope uses her life to explore Victorian England's thorny social issues and the maddening intricacies of its law and business.

"A sweeping, amusing and often touching panorama of Victorian life." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)