The Montmorencys arrive at Danielstown as summer guests of Sir Richard and Lady Naylor.

Francie expresses fears about the danger of staying at Danielstown; the Naylors confidently dismiss her concerns.

The Naylors host a crowded tennis party where Gerald's feelings for Lois are visible to the assembled guests.

Francie tells Lady Naylor that everyone is talking about Gerald and Lois; Lady Naylor flatly denies any attachment exists.

Marda Norton, an old family friend from England, arrives at Danielstown as the Naylors' newest guest.

Gerald arrives uninvited at Danielstown and shocks Lois by grabbing her by the shoulders and kissing her.

An IRA soldier holds Lois and Marda at gunpoint in an abandoned mill and fires, wounding Marda's hand.

Marda departs Danielstown just days after arriving, despite her brief but significant effect on the household.

Outside an army dance, Gerald proposes to Lois in the darkness and she accepts.

Lady Naylor dismisses Lois's feelings for Gerald, insisting Lois knows nothing about real love and should attend art school.

Lady Naylor secretly meets Gerald in Clonmore and uses the example of another unsuitable engagement to discourage his relationship with Lois.

Gerald comes to Danielstown and breaks off his engagement with Lois, telling her he is not good enough for her.

Word spreads through Clonmore that a soldier has been killed; English soldiers' wives weep openly in the streets.

Mr. Daventry arrives at Danielstown to deliver the news that Gerald was shot dead while on patrol.

The IRA burns Danielstown and two neighboring Big Houses; Sir Richard and Lady Naylor watch their home destroyed.

The novel opens with the Montmorency couple arriving at Danielstown, the Irish country estate of Sir Richard and Lady Naylor, where young Lois Farquar also lives. Throughout the first half of the novel, Lois and the English soldier Gerald Lesworth grow closer despite Lady Naylor's disapproval, while the arrival of Marda Norton briefly transforms the atmosphere of the household. The pivotal encounter with an IRA soldier in an abandoned mill raises the stakes of the war from background noise to immediate personal danger. In Part 3, Gerald proposes to Lois at an army dance, but Lady Naylor conspires to undermine the engagement by meeting Gerald secretly and manipulating his sense of self-worth. Gerald breaks off the engagement, and shortly afterward is shot and killed on patrol, his death symbolizing the collapse of English imperial power in Ireland. The novel closes with the burning of Danielstown itself, ending the Anglo-Irish way of life the Naylors had tried so desperately to preserve.

The headline events of an Anglo-Irish household during the Irish War of Independence.

Lois goes inside to tell Laurence, waiting upstairs, about the newly arrived Montgorency guests.

Francie settles in at Danielstown and asks Hugo about his old unrequited love for Lois's mother, Laura.

Lois hides in the shrubbery as an unknown figure walks purposefully along the Danielstown avenue in the dark.

Lois tells Gerald at the tennis party how disconnected she feels from the war raging eight miles away.

Sir Richard and Lady Naylor warn Lois about the danger of associating with English soldiers, citing girls who had their hair cut off.

Lois and Livvy take shelter from rain at the Fogartys' home, then steer clear of Black and Tan soldiers on the road home.

During a countryside walk, Marda unexpectedly mentions her English fiancé to Hugo, visibly surprising him.

Lois brings her drawings to Marda's room; Marda praises her cleverness and suggests she travel and write rather than draw.

Laurence tells Lois and Marda that Castle Trent has been raided for weapons and says he hopes raiders come to Danielstown next.

During a sleepless night at Danielstown, Hugo passes Marda a candle and their fingers briefly touch.

Livvy visits Lois privately and reveals she is secretly engaged to Mr. Armstrong, showing a hidden ring.

Hugo rushes into the abandoned mill and frantically calls out Marda's name, exposing his feelings for her to Lois.

Mrs. Vermont and other English officers' wives arrive uninvited at Danielstown and gossip about the household on their way out.

Francie slips into Lois's room at night to warn her that Gerald seemed deeply unhappy after meeting Lady Naylor.

Lois leaves Danielstown to travel in France; the Montmorencys and Laurence also depart, leaving the Naylors alone.

While the main plot unfolds, daily life at Danielstown is filled with smaller but telling moments that reveal character and atmosphere. Lois navigates conversations with her cousin Laurence, encounters a mysterious figure on the avenue at night, and joins her friend Livvy in the uncomfortable social realities of wartime Ireland, including steering clear of Black and Tan soldiers on a country road. Marda Norton's brief visit inspires Lois creatively and socially, but it also stirs tensions—particularly through Hugo's barely concealed obsession and a charged near-touch between them during a sleepless night. Livvy's secret engagement and Francie's loyal nighttime warning to Lois show the way personal relationships simmer beneath the surface of polite society. Laurence's provocative announcement about a raided nearby estate and Mrs. Vermont's unwanted visit each reveal how the war intrudes upon the household's carefully maintained calm. The novel's final phase is marked by quiet departures, as Lois heads to France and the remaining guests leave, abandoning Sir Richard and Lady Naylor to their now-doomed home.

The overlooked details and social textures that shape life at Danielstown.

Hugo sees Lois as an adult for the first time and fails to recognize her, casually predicting she will marry young.

Two girls at the tennis party observe Gerald's obvious love for Lois and joke that his being shot would make them feel interesting.

At the tennis party, Lois tells Gerald directly that she believes he has illusions about her and does not truly know her.

Lois writes to her friend Viola confessing supposed feelings for Hugo but immediately regrets sending the letter.

Lois glimpses Hugo tenderly brushing Francie's hair through an open door; Francie meets her eyes in the mirror and both smile.

Lois tries on Marda's fur coat in the entryway before meeting her and briefly feels the thrill of escaping into another woman's life.

Gerald tells the Naylor family that his regiment has captured Peter Connor, a local man on the run; Sir Richard flushes with distress.

Facing the IRA soldier's raised gun inside the abandoned mill, Lois suddenly decides she must marry Gerald.

Marda decides to hide the true cause of her hand wound from her English fiancé, refusing to give him reason to condemn Ireland.

After Marda's departure, Lois visits her empty room and finds the pillow still holds the shape of her head.

Lois writes to her friend Viola declaring her intention to marry Gerald before nervously departing for the army dance.

At the dance, Mr. Daventry makes unwanted advances on a local Irish girl, who sharply tells him Englishmen should leave while they can.

Francie interrupts Lady Naylor's private meeting with Gerald in Clonmore and immediately suspects she has been interfering in Lois's affairs.

As Gerald ends the engagement, Lois tells him she never needed him to understand her—only to love her and make her feel safe.

Lady Naylor responds to Gerald's death by announcing she must write to his mother, performing a grief and closeness she barely had.

From the very start, small revelations establish the emotional landscape of Danielstown: Hugo's failure to truly see Lois as a person, and Lois's own deep uncertainty about her feelings and her place in the world. The arrival of Marda Norton catalyzes several private shifts—Lois's liberating moment with Marda's fur coat, Gerald's unsettling report of capturing a local man, and the sudden fierce decision Lois makes while facing an IRA soldier's gun. Marda's departure is quietly mourned by Lois, who visits her empty room and finds only the lingering impression of a head on a pillow. In Part 3, Lois's letters to her friend Viola frame her changing intentions, while the dance scene exposes the darker face of English imperialism through Mr. Daventry's aggressive behavior toward a local Irish girl. The broken engagement and Gerald's death mark the novel's most emotionally raw moments, and Lady Naylor's composed performance of grief over a soldier she barely tolerated reveals how thoroughly the Anglo-Irish world has been built on careful, self-preserving performance.

The revelations, internal shifts, and emotional turning points that drive Lois's story.

Elizabeth Bowen

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