Stella Markham is the apple of her aunt's eye: gentle, kind, beautiful and accomplished - the model of a perfect child. Her guardians love her and her playmates worship her. Sensitive and thoughtful, she is the very image of nineteenth century loveliness - that is, until things don't go her way. From the bestselling author of the Just William stories, follows Stella from childhood through courtship and motherhood, detailing the triumphs and tragedies of a woman who is willing to do anything to maintain the image of her own perfection, sacrificing those she loves to her own vanity.