Set in mid-Victorian England, this novel follows the fight for ascendancy among the clergy and dependents of a great English cathedral.

The book centers on the character of Mr. Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity, whose charitable income far exceeds the purpose for which it was intended. Young John Bold turns his reforming zeal to exposing what he considers to be an abuse of privilege, despite being in love with Mr. Harding's daughter Eleanor. The novel was highly topical as a case regarding the misapplication of ...

*'Frost in May is the unsurpassed novel of convent school life' Hermione Lee, Observer

* A unique record of one woman's experience of twenty-five of the most cataclysmic years in modern history - and a Virago Classic bestseller - with a new introduction by Mark Bostridge

Captures the foibles and fancies of the English upper class. Set in the privileged world of the county house party and the London season, this is a comedy of English manners.