In Victorian England

Young Lenore Brown is gratified to be released from a life of drudgery looking after her widowed father and a large family: she is getting married! Fortunately for her, she is a talented seamstress and is able to put food on the table for her own children, while her husband spends all his wages on drink.

The next generation of women has to contend with their husbands’ obsession with a new religion--the Russellites, which later becomes the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The effect is the same: neglected families, although the financial picture is somewhat improved, and their mates are not given to violence. The reader might well reflect that nothing ever really changes--yet one is impressed and uplifted by the courage and stamina of these women.