One of Seale's standard plots: a down on her luck, shy and retiring heroine is sent to be a secretary to a rich, reclusive former scientist who was blinded in an accident. The scientist inherited a large house on the moors, along with guardianship of a little girl. Our heroine is viewed askance by the faithful retainers but incorporates herself into the household structure. She discovers that the recluse is actually looking for a wife (to run his home, etc., no marital obligations). They marry and her role doesn't really change, but then things are upended by the arrival of the recluse's former flame, who wants him back now that he's rich.

Everything is told from the heroine's POV, the recluse is broody and emotionally distant, and the heroine is insecure and unconfident, although a healthier sense of self peeks through occasionally.

As a romance, particularly in today's environment, it's pretty unsatisfying; everything is subtext until the very end and the reader has to infer that the two are growing fonder of each other. The former flame is interesting but awful. What works best is the evocation of setting, both natural and social. This is really a domestic novel of social class in category-romance garb, and at that it succeeds quite well. The writing is perfectly serviceable, like most M&Bs of this era. Seale is more reliant on tropes to move her plots and characters than Mary Burchell, and some of the romances are dubious, but her books can be interesting. This one is pretty typical; nothing great but nothing horrible. ( )