Before You Begin

Before you begin.

Wildairs Hall begins on a winter morning in 1690, with horses, hounds, and a household preparing for the hunt. At its centre is Clorinda Wildairs, a spirited child growing up in a world where rank, beauty, family duty, and money shape what people expect of one another.

Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1896 historical romance looks back to England at the turn of the eighteenth century. Country estates, London drawing rooms, riding parks, and the customs of the great households give Clorinda’s story its scale; wit, loyalty, and the struggle to live by one’s own character give it its pulse.

This edition opens with an illustrated gallery of the people, places, relationships, and moments that form the novel’s world. As you read, each chapter recap gathers the stretch just completed, and a Story Medallion marks a passage from that chapter. Begin with the gallery, then enter the story at Wildairs Hall.