Night and Day

Katharine Hilbery belongs to a cultivated London family but privately prefers mathematics to the literary reputation she is expected to preserve. Her uncertain engagement to William Rodney and growing attachment to Ralph Denham intersect with the life of Mary Datchet, who works for the women’s suffrage movement. Set in pre-war London, the novel uses courtship and social comedy to examine marriage, class, women’s employment and the conflict between inherited expectations and private ambition. Its relatively traditional form records the pressures facing educated women in late Edwardian society.