Love and Life: An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume

About the book

Aurelia Delavie grows up in a household where limited money is balanced by affection and her elder sister Betty's practical care. Lady Belamour's proposal to take charge of Aurelia appears to offer advancement, but its language also threatens the livelihood of the girl's father. Sent into a more imposing and less transparent world, Aurelia must distinguish genuine kindness from arrangements made for other people's convenience. Yonge places this retelling of the Cupid and Psyche story in eighteenth-century England, translating fairy-tale trials into family authority, social dependence, and uncertainty about love. The historical setting supplies manners and obstacles rather than merely decoration. Christian ideas of faith and patient fidelity shape the romance, while Betty's skeptical judgment exposes the dangers hidden beneath aristocratic generosity.

• Trust and secrecy
• Family authority
• Faith and fidelity

Why read it

The contrast between Aurelia's vulnerability and Betty's practical suspicion gives the fairy-tale pattern a convincing family setting.

English text including the preface to the second edition