11 h 50 minAudiobook17 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does love ask of you when duty stands in the way and the past remains uncertain?
In Love and Life, Charlotte Mary Yonge sets romance in an eighteenth-century world of strict rank, family obligation, and slow travel. A mystery gives the story its pull, while devotion gives it weight. What remains hidden draws you onward; the demands of family and conscience ask you to pause and look closer.
Yonge brings moral seriousness to the trials of the heart. She looks closely at households and manners, exploring love through patience, quiet duty, and the pressure of the past on the present. This is a romance that takes its time, inviting you to consider not only what love desires, but what it requires.
What you’ll discover
- A world shaped by duty Enter an eighteenth-century setting where rank and family obligations shape the course of romance.
- Mystery beneath the romance Follow a story whose hidden uncertainties give its questions of love an added pull.
- Devotion under pressure Explore the place of patience and conscience in a romance centered on devotion.
- Households brought into focus Look closely at family life and manners through Yonge's attentive, morally serious gaze.
- Room to linger Settle into unhurried Victorian prose that gives the trials of the heart room to unfold.
Who will love it
Readers who love period romance, family loyalty, old houses, and stories where quiet goodness meets clever schemers. It suits anyone who enjoys the manners, food, clothes, and country life of eighteenth-century England.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Cow, a Dance, and a Name
- An Old Wrong Casts a Long Shadow
- A Letter That Asks for a Daughter
- Aurelia Leaves and a Stranger Appears
- A Lonely House and Three Small Girls
- The Voice in the Dark Room
- My Lady Comes with a Plan
- A Proposal and a Wedding Without Light
- Harriet Brings a Dangerous Gift
- Voices, Hands, and Quiet Themes
Who’s who
- Aurelia DelavieThe youngest Delavie sister, sixteen, shy and gentle, sent to Bowstead and drawn into friendship with a voice in the dark.
- Elizabeth (Betty) DelavieThe plain, red-haired eldest sister who runs the household, guards her family fiercely, and wants Aurelia safe.
- Major Henry DelavieA lame veteran of Marlborough's wars, loyal to his cousin Lady Belamour, who wants only his children's happiness and honor.
- Lady BelamourUrania, the dazzling mistress of the great estates, deep in debt and set on marrying her son for money.
- Sir Amyas BelamourA golden-haired young dragoon captain, honest and impulsive, who wants to marry the girl he danced with.
- Mr. Amyas BelamourThe uncle, a once-brilliant barrister living in a shuttered room since a duel, who finds new life in Aurelia's visits.
- JumboMr. Belamour's faithful Black servant and fiddler, who guards his master's secrets and befriends the children.
- HarrietAurelia's vain middle sister, who longs for fashion and a husband and cannot resist meddling.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 50 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 17 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Amore e vita in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Amore e vita
by Charlotte M. Yonge · 1880
A country girl sent to a shuttered house spends her evenings with a voice she cannot see.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Love and Life is a historical romance by Charlotte M. Yonge, who died in 1901.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Cow, a Dance, and a Name
The book opens in the bedroom of Major Delavie, a lame old soldier in a green velvet nightcap, who waits for his three daughters to come home from a party. They arrive in a faded coach. The youngest, Aurelia, has just been to her first grown-up evening in a blue silk gown she helped to embroider with tiny butterflies.
The party was a syllabub party at the Deanery in Carminster. A cow with pink ribbons on her horns was led onto the bowling green so that a young lady dressed as a dairymaid could milk her into a bowl. The cow would not stand still. Betty, the eldest, who is plain and red-haired and sensible, stepped in, borrowed an apron, and had the bowl frothing in no time. Her sister Harriet, who is vain and fretful after smallpox, was horrified that anyone had seen it.
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What is Love and Life by Charlotte Yonge about?
It tells of Aurelia Delavie, a country girl in the 1730s sent to serve a powerful kinswoman and care for her children, who becomes the friend of a recluse living in darkness. It mixes romance, family loyalty, and mystery.
When is Love and Life set?
The story takes place in the first half of the eighteenth century, in the reign of George II, with details such as pillions, powdered hair, and the weekly post. It is a historical novel written long afterward by Yonge.
Who is Mr. Belamour in Love and Life?
Mr. Amyas Belamour is a former barrister and wit, the uncle of the young baronet, who has lived in a dark room for nine years after a duel and a head wound. He is cultured, courteous, and lonely.
The author
Charlotte Mary Yonge
1823–1901 · English novelist and editor
Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901) was an English novelist and editor. She was born in Otterbourne, Hampshire, and lived there throughout her life. She wrote The Heir of Redclyffe, published in 1853, and novels for adults and children. She also edited The Monthly Packet, a magazine founded in 1851.
More by Charlotte M. Yonge
All 2 booksMore like this
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