Summary
Summary of Slighted Love
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Italy comes home to seek justice
Italy Vale grows up knowing that people avoid her mother, but not why. When she learns that her father was murdered and her mother acquitted yet publicly condemned, she gains a purpose: to clear her mother's name. She travels to The Lodge, where the murder happened, and asks to stay with the family who inherited his wealth.
Francis Murray receives her coldly. Italy is less concerned with his welcome than with finding her father's missing diary, which may help explain his death.
Key idea 2
Suspicion struggles with an unwanted attraction
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Key idea 3
A false welcome hides a trap
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Key idea 4
Love speaks before the fog closes
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Key idea 5
Grief brings Italy another hidden danger
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Key idea 6
Italy refuses another story of guilt
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Key idea 7
A confession creates an unexpected alliance
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Key idea 8
Small objects hold the mystery together
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Key idea 9
Loyalty must look beyond friendly appearances
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who love old-fashioned melodrama, a brave heroine, a family mystery with a courtroom behind it, and a love story that grows under suspicion, with storms at sea and secrets in every drawer.
What this book is
Slighted Love is a romance of secrets and suspicion by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller, an American novelist of the late Victorian age. It is set in and around Boston and the seaside town of Winthrop. The story follows Italy Vale, a dark-eyed girl of seventeen raised in Europe by a mother who lives under a cloud. Her father was murdered, her mother was tried for it and acquitted, and the world never forgave her.
The book gives you a fast-moving tale in short chapters. There are yachts and fog, sleepwalking and forged letters, a locked room and a missing diary, and a heart that argues with itself. It mixes a courtroom puzzle with a love story, and it keeps asking who can be trusted and who is only smiling.
Italy arrives at the grand house where her father died, carrying a vow to clear her mother's name. Under that roof lives the man who inherited everything, and she believes he is the killer. Let us begin with her first meeting with Francis Murray.
In this summary
- 1A daughter arrives with a secret purposeFree
- 2A midnight search in the library
- 3A trap in Boston and a face in a portrait
- 4Friends, rivals and a shove from the yacht
- 5The moonlight party and the fog
- 6Homeless, grieving and sure he is alive
- 7Advice from a friend and a lawyer's cruel story
- 8A sailor's letter and a mother's anguish
- 9What the story is really about
- 10How the story is told
Key point 1 of 10
A daughter arrives with a secret purpose
The story opens in an old Italian garden. Seventeen-year-old Italy Vale asks her mother why they live such lonely lives and why people seem to shun them. Mrs. Vale finally tells her the truth. Italy's father was murdered in his library at the family's seaside home in Winthrop, near Boston, and Mrs. Vale was tried for the crime. The jury acquitted her, but the crowd hissed, and public opinion has followed her ever since.
Mrs. Vale adds that her husband's wealth was tied by inheritance to male heirs. Because Italy was a girl, it passed to a distant cousin, a young man named Francis Murray. All that remained for mother and daughter was a small private fortune. Mrs. Vale believes some unknown enemy keeps spreading her story from town to town, and she has kept every paper from the trial for her daughter to read.
Months later Italy walks along the beach at Winthrop toward The Lodge, the stone mansion where her father died. She tells a servant that a stranger has come on important business, and she is shown into a library with windows on the sea. Francis Murray rises to meet her. He is a tall, fair, grave man of about thirty, and she is shaken by the sight of him in a way she cannot explain.
She gives her name and says her mother is dead, then asks whether she may stay. Murray believes her mother was guilty, and his manner turns cold. He leaves to consult his mother. Mrs. Murray comes in, polite and frosty, and accepts her as a kinswoman out of duty.
The warmth of the welcome matters less than the reason for the visit. Italy has told her hosts a half truth, and she is already thinking of one thing. She wants to find her father's missing diary, a book with a gold clasp that he guarded even from his wife. The house is full of guests who have their own plans, and she is an unwelcome part of them all.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Why does Italy seek her father's murderer?
Right. “She wants to clear her mother's name and find the murderer, and she asks his help in finding the diary.”Not quite. “She wants to clear her mother's name and find the murderer, and she asks his help in finding the diary.”
How does Italy respond to the confession signed with Francis Murray's name?
Right. “Italy calls it a forgery, and Mrs. Murray rises from her bed with new hope.”Not quite. “Italy calls it a forgery, and Mrs. Murray rises from her bed with new hope.”
What does Italy learn about suspicion during her search?
Right. “As the pages go on, Italy learns that suspicion can mislead, that kindness can hide malice, and that her own heart has taken a path she did not plan.”Not quite. “As the pages go on, Italy learns that suspicion can mislead, that kindness can hide malice, and that her own heart has taken a path she did not plan.”
Questions about Slighted Love
What is Slighted Love about?
It follows Italy Vale, a girl raised in Europe, who comes to Winthrop near Boston to find her father's murderer and clear her mother's name. She suspects the man who inherited his fortune, and her search brings danger, secrets and unexpected love.
Who is Italy Vale in Slighted Love?
Italy is a seventeen-year-old American girl born in Italy and raised abroad. Her father was murdered and her mother was tried and acquitted. She is brave, loyal and stubborn, and she vows to find the true killer, whatever the cost.
What is the missing diary in Slighted Love?
It is a book with a gold clasp that Italy's father kept in his desk and guarded closely, even from his wife. Italy's mother believes it holds a clue to his death, so Italy searches for it from her first week at The Lodge.
Is Slighted Love a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller, set in Boston and Winthrop in Victorian times. It draws on the popular taste of the age for family mysteries, courtroom drama, romance and moral contrast.
Is Slighted Love easy to read?
Yes in the sense that it moves briskly. The chapters are short, the plot runs forward on clear cliffhangers, and the characters are drawn in bold strokes, so a modern reader can follow the mystery and the romance with ease.
