14 h 44 minAudiobook4 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 following your heart cost when family, society and common sense all point the other way?
Nancy, the spirited young woman at the center of Rhoda Broughton's Victorian novel, speaks her mind and feels deeply. She laughs when she is expected to be solemn and resists the call to stay calm. Around her, courtship and marriage bring questions of money, duty and desire—questions that leave women with hard choices and little room to move.
A marriage between partners widely separated in age brings those pressures close. What place does the heart have when a choice must also answer to family and society? Broughton explores that tension through conversation, social detail and close attention to feeling. Her dry, quick humor gives the story lightness without brushing aside the weight of choosing whom to love.
What you’ll discover
- A heroine with spirit Meet a young woman whose outspoken nature makes room for laughter and deep feeling.
- A marriage of unequal years Explore the questions raised when partners enter marriage across a wide gap in age.
- The pressures behind courtship Look beyond romance to the money and expectations that shape a woman's choices.
- Wit amid strong feelings Enjoy dry, quick humor that brightens scenes without denying their emotional weight.
- The price of choosing Consider what following the heart demands when common sense points toward another path.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy Victorian domestic fiction, sharp heroines and stories of courtship and marriage. It may suit you less if you want fast plots, action or a modern pace, since Broughton works through talk, feeling and social detail.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Broughton wrote for readers who wanted feeling
- A young woman who speaks her mind
- Marriage across a gap of years
- Wit, talk and the price of choosing
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Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
Broughton wrote for readers who wanted feeling
Rhoda Broughton began publishing in the 1860s, and her early novels caused a stir. Readers found them frank about desire and about the pressures that pushed young women toward marriage. She wrote in a quick, chatty voice that treated love as a real force and not only as a polite ornament.
Her books were widely read in her lifetime, and she kept writing for decades. Over the years her tone grew gentler, but she never lost her gift for dialogue. Her characters talk the way people do when they are nervous, proud or hurt.
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The author
Rhoda Broughton
1840–1920 · Welsh novelist
Rhoda Broughton (1840–1920) was a Welsh novelist born in Denbigh, Wales. She lived in Oxford and later in Headington, where she died. Her first novels appeared in 1867. She wrote Nancy, published in 1873, and Doctor Cupid, published in 1886. She continued publishing novels into the twentieth century.
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What is Nancy by Rhoda Broughton about?
It is a Victorian novel about a spirited young woman and the choices she faces in love and marriage, including a marriage across a wide gap in age, and what it costs to follow the heart.
Who was Rhoda Broughton?
She was a Welsh-born English novelist, niece of Sheridan Le Fanu, who wrote popular Victorian novels about love and courtship. She died in 1920 after a long writing career.
Is Nancy a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction. It reflects real Victorian worries about marriage, money, age and reputation, but its people and events come from Broughton's imagination.
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