Vanessa — Hugh Walpole

The fourth and final volume of the Herries Chronicles, described as 'incomparably the best' in The Daily Telegraph is a love story of 'effortless brilliance' (Observer) which starts with the triumph of Judith Paris's hundredth birthday in the 1870's and then moves to the tragic disillusionment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Set, predominantly, as before, amidst the grandeur of the lake district landscape, it tells the passionate and unforgettable story of Vanessa, Judith's Granddaughter and her n'er-do-well cousin Benjie whom she had sworn in childhood never to betray.