Joan Haste

by H. Rider Haggard

First published 1895

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3.1(22)

Joan Haste grows up under the burden of illegitimacy and village prejudice, possessing little protection against gossip or exploitation. Her relationship with Sir Henry Graves offers affection and the hope of escape, but class expectations, family obligations and his existing prospects make their attachment socially dangerous.

The novel follows the consequences of their unequal positions through secrecy, pregnancy, coercion and sacrifice. It is one of Haggard’s darkest domestic works, examining how Victorian respectability punishes a vulnerable woman while allowing wealth and rank to determine whose desires are treated as legitimate.