The novel is set in the late Victorian period in England.
Sir Gilbert longed secretly for these children and watched their progress to adultho.
These women all died evil deaths, and the children were placed in the workhouse.
Like many rich men, he had taken peasant mistresses in his youth, later abandoning them with no means of support.
The central character is Sir Gilbert Stanley, Tory politician and great landowner.
It concerns conflicts in attitude to social class and destitution and religion.
The novel is set in the late Victorian period in England