Publisher's Synopsis
In Connection With The De Willoughby Claim is a novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The story is set in the 19th century and revolves around the life of a young woman named Cecilia De Willoughby. Cecilia is the heiress to a large estate but has been living in poverty due to her father's mismanagement of the family's finances. When Cecilia's father dies, a distant relative named Arthur De Willoughby arrives to claim the estate. However, Cecilia believes that Arthur is not a true De Willoughby and sets out to prove it. Along the way, she discovers a web of family secrets, including a scandalous love affair that threatens to destroy her family's reputation. As Cecilia fights to reclaim her rightful inheritance, she must also navigate the complexities of love and marriage. She is torn between her childhood friend, John Burnham, and the dashing Arthur De Willoughby. The novel is a tale of mystery, romance, and family drama. It explores themes of identity, class, and the power of love to overcome adversity. With its vivid characters and intricate plot, In Connection With The De Willoughby Claim is a captivating read for fans of historical fiction and romance.1899. The book begins: High noon at Talbot�������s Crossroads, with the mercury standing at ninety-eight in the shade-though there was not much shade worth mentioning in the immediate vicinity of the Crossroads post-office, about which, upon the occasion referred to, the few human beings within sight and sound were congregated. There were trees enough a few hundred yards away, but the post-office stood boldly and unflinchingly in the blazing sun. The roads crossing each other stretched themselves as far as the eye could follow them, the red clay transformed into red dust which even a ordinarily lively imagination might have fancied was red hot. The shrill, rattling cry of the grasshoppers, hidden in the long yellow sedge-grass and drouth-smitten corn, pierced the stillness now and then with a suddenness startling each time it broke forth, because the interval between each of the pipings was given by the hearers to drowsiness or heated unconscious naps. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.