The Armor of Light: A Novel

Content Warning: This section of the guide mentions death by suicide and anti-gay bias.

The Armor of Light depicts the complexity of love across the social classes of 18th and 19th century Britain. In this society, dominated by a rigid class structure, etiquette and formality govern most aspects of people’s lives. The more class privilege people have, the more beholden they feel to social expectations. These rigid expectations frequently clash with the inherently unruly force of romantic love. For example, a complex love triangle exists between Jane, Amos, and Elsie: Amos is in love with Jane, but Jane is fixated on landing a wealthy, aristocratic husband rather than a man she truly loves. At the same time, Elsie is in love with Amos, but Amos’s love for Jane prevents him from noticing Elsie’s affection. All three allow their lives to be governed by circumstance, and at least until the end of the novel, they rarely have their love requited, even when they marry. Jane marries Northwood—whose name suggests his emotional coldness and lack of passion—and feels so despondent about the marriage that she has an affair with Amos, hoping to become pregnant with the child that Northwood will not give her.