num_pages: 388
description: Desire is the story of an Edwardian New Woman who finds fulfilment in work and love after rejecting high society. First published in 1908, Una L Silberrad’s novel of professional integrity and feminist aspirations for the right to work was praised by contemporary reviewers because "it satisfies the intelligence at the same time as it appeals to the emotions."Desire Quebell is the illegitimate daughter and only child of a wealthy financier. He brings her up in luxury, and she enjoys the pleasures of society, yet she is not a conventional Edwardian daughter. She rebels intellectually, and chooses not to marry a successful man where there is no love or honour. She admires the work of provincial novelist Peter Grimstone, and uses him to engineer the break-up of her engagement. But her father has neglected to make provision for Desire in his will, so when he dies unexpectedly, she has to leave her home without a penny of her own. She moves to a boarding house and studies secretarial work, intending to find a job before the last of her jewel money runs out. But her class bars her from employment, and she can’t make new friends with being misunderstood. Just as she faces destitution, Peter tracks her down with the offer of a job: his father has had a stroke, and Peter needs help to run the family pottery business. Will Desire consider leaving London to be a book-keeper in a small Staffordshire town, away from everyone she has ever known? But her new life at Grimstone's is not a haven. Peter’s father is an angry, bitter man, his mother is nervous and unhappy, and his brother Alexander is an unscrupulous plotter who wants Peter out of the way. Desire must face sexual aggression as well as social suspicion before she, and Peter, find the way to happiness, in work and life.
title: Desire
publisher: Handheld Press