A gentleman’s daughter rejects her station in this tale of nineteenth-century love across class boundaries by the acclaimed poet and author of The Edwardians.

In the English village of King’s Avon, across the downs from Marlborough, young Clare Warrener lives in the big manor house with her gentleman father. But she is increasingly drawn out to the downs where young Nicholas Lovel spends his days tending sheep. Though Nicholas is handsome and capable, his family is the subject of suspicion around town. Few have been inside the cottage where his mother is housebound, and his brother Olver is known to be simple.

When their love is thwarted by lies and deception, Clare accepts an unwelcome proposal from a much older man, and Nicholas is forced into a marriage that will protect his family. But still, the love and freedom they found on the downs beckons them both to return.

Vita Sackville-West is celebrated for her evocative depictions of the English countryside in her poetry and novels. She is also remembered as the inspiration for the titular character in Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Orlando. First published in 1923, Grey Wethers demonstrates the power of Sackville-West’s lyrical voice.

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