Mary Or The Perils 0f Imprudence

It is midsummer 1819, the sun is shining and the fields and riverbanks are thick with wildflowers. Mary Best, companion to old Lady Leland, likes to pick a selection when she goes for a walk and bring them back for her employer, with whom she shares a deep understanding and affection as well as an ironic sense of humour. It is on one of these innocuous outings that she meets an eligible gentleman in dramatic circumstances and finds her hard-won tranquillity severely tested. Her employer is encouraging but Mary, haunted by something in her past, is reluctant to put herself in emotional jeopardy in spite of knowing that, if she is to find lasting happiness, she must face her demons.Meanwhile, not far away, Susan Porter, not yet ‘out’, is spending the summer in preparation for this momentous event; two tutors have been engaged and she tries hard to master subjects for which she is convinced she has no aptitude. Lasting happiness for her daughter is not paramount amongst Mrs Porter’s ambitions.