The novel follows the lives of Rose and her widowed Aunt, Madame Francesca Bernard, along with young visitor and cousin Isabel, whose lives are changed by the return of an old friend and neighbour Colonel Kent, and his grown son, Allison. Other characters that help shape their lives in significant ways are the Crosby twins, unconventional and uninhibited youths that set society at naught, and an unconventional doctor who specializes in the impossible. Through the limited "wide-scope" descriptions the reader is not sure of the historical setting or even in which decade it's set, but it helps to understand the focus of the story; after all it's about their own little world, and how their own hearts and lives fit together in the tight confines of their town, their garden, their friendships and lives. (Summary by wikipedia.org)
LibriVox recordings are public domain in the United States; copyright status may differ elsewhere.
Chapters
- Chapter 1
A falling star
19:49 - Chapter 2
Welcome home
18:51 - Chapter 3
The voice of the violin
19:05 - Chapter 4
The Crosby Twins
17:07 - Chapter 5
An afternoon call
18:12 - Chapter 6
The light on the altar
18:04 - Chapter 7
Father and son
17:42 - Chapter 8
"The Year's at the spring"
16:32 - Chapter 9
A knight-errand
18:57 - Chapter 10
"Sweet-and-twenty"
18:56 - Chapter 11
Keeping the faith
19:48 - Chapter 12
An enchanted hour
20:20 - Chapter 13
White gloves
19:18 - Chapter 14
The thirtieth of June
19:21 - Chapter 15
"How will she come to me"
21:40 - Chapter 16
How Isabel came
19:21 - Chapter 17
Penance
16:58 - Chapter 18
"Less than the dust"
19:38 - Chapter 19
Over the bar
19:47 - Chapter 20
Risen from the dead
18:05 - Chapter 21
Saved - and lost
19:41 - Chapter 22
A birthday party
18:40 - Chapter 23
"Tears, idle tears"
22:29 - Chapter 24
The house where love lived
18:27