Dr. Madden died prematurely, failing to provide his six daughters with anything but a bookcase full of poetry and romantic novels. His savings were too scarce for the girls to live comfortably, so they had to find jobs and leave their family house. Poor Gertrude, Martha, and Isabel had died too; they weren’t prepared for harshness of reality. Alice moved to London and so did Virginia. They hoped to find well-paid jobs there and help Monica, the baby of the family and the prettiest one among them. They believed that at least she would marry and settle down.
Time passed; Virginia was terribly ill, Alice tried not to drown in despair whilst their beloved young sister was wasting away at work. One day a letter from the Maddens’ old friend came. A sender was Rhoda Nunn whom they hadn’t seen for many years. Just like she dreamt when she was a girl, Rhoda was an independent woman. She had tried her hand at different professions, worked hard on her education and skills. When she met Mrs. Barfoot, the woman who invested her inheritance in the establishment where the middle-class girls could learn some practical skills, she decided to help the woman in her mission. Feeling sorry for the poor women, Rhoda promised the Maddens to help them. She hoped that Monica would succeed, but the fate had other plans.
The young lady married Edmund Widdowson, the man she did not love but thought she could respect. Despite having no love for Edmund, she did try to be a good wife, with the biggest issue being her husband’s suffocating jealousy. When she did meet a man she was attracted to, she couldn’t help falling in love with him, for he was a perfect hero from romantic novels she used to read. Edmund, who was always wary of putting too much trust in his wife, hires a detective who follows Monica to her lover, Bevis, who lives in the same building as Edmund Barfoot.
Meanwhile, Rhoda's ideas were being questioned by Everard, Mrs. Barfoot’s brother. Rhoda had almost agreed to marry him, but then she received a message from Mary in which some evidence Everard's adultery was presented so she decided to end their relationships. What was more, the note said that Monica was his mistress. After Monica explains to Rhoda the misunderstanding, Rhoda denies Everard proposal once more noting that he does not truly love her and that she sees his interest is in testing her principles. Later on, Mrs. Widdowson realizes that she is pregnant, but cannot humble herself to crawl back to Mr. Widdowson. Though her husband was the father of her child, she didn’t want to humiliate herself and beg him for forgiveness. She gave birth to a girl and soon after that died. The novel ends with Rhoda holding the baby and sobbing.
