AustLit

Narrated by a father to his three daughters in the 1890s, a romantic tragedy of the 1870s. A young clerk falls in love and proposes to the girl he saved from a runaway wagon whilst recovering from his injuries at her house. He is sent away on business shortly before their wedding and she meets and falls in love with a handsome talented fellow-violinist. They renounce each other and she marries her fiancée, bearing three children and deep sadness. To recover her health a trip to NZ is taken where she sees her true love, a drunken but genius musician. On their return trip he saves her husband, herself and their children when the ship flounders, they being temporarily reunited in the sea. He dies on the rocks and she shortly after ... The tale is told by the widowed husband, sure of his wife's love though aware it was also directed elsewhere. Well-written generally. (PB)