Windover — Jane Aiken Hodge

Set in England at the time of the French Revolution. Mark Weatherby disappears after asking Kathryn Pennan's abusive, lecherous stepfather for her hand in marriage. A year later, she is forced to marry a wealthy young banker, a desperate act to save her family from poverty and to escape the advances of her stepfather. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Kathryn does her best to adjust to the situation. Falsely accused of murdering her husband, a pregnant Kathryn flees from her small town and settles in London, where she finds a world of opportunity and an unlikely change in her circumstances.