The Glad Summer

by Jeffery Farnol

First published 1951

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3.3(16)

In the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, Nicholas Harbourne unexpectedly inherits a baronetcy and a fortune but chooses to remain incognito while he learns what his new position actually means. Living among the people connected to his estate brings him close to Joanne, whose struggle to keep a farm working is far removed from the abstractions of wealth and title. Their relationship develops while Lord Wolverton’s pressure and blackmail threaten both property and personal independence.

Farnol uses rural Sussex to examine the responsibilities hidden inside Victorian inheritance. Nicholas can claim rank immediately, but he cannot understand the community attached to it without living beyond aristocratic ceremony. The romance therefore grows from work, tenancy and local knowledge, making the novel a late example of Farnol’s persistent argument that gentility is demonstrated by conduct rather than inherited name.