"World War I, in the background of Rebecca West's first novel, was "the first war that women could imagine," writes Samuel Hynes in his eloquent introduction, "and so it was the first that a woman could write into a novel." Narrated by a woman who, like West, has never experienced war and yet for whom the war was very real, The Return of the Soldier (1918) takes place not on a battlefield, but in an isolated country house. It examines the relationships...

A country house is unhappy when the city, with all its buildings and traffic, grows up around her.

On a dark and foggy night, charming amateur sleuth Ellie Haskell, her husband Ben, and her plucky sidekick Mrs. Malloy find themselves stranded at a grand estate on the Yorkshire moors. Lord Belfrey of Mucklesfeld Manor has decided to save his crumbling establishment by offering himself as the prize on a TV reality show titled "Here Comes the Bride." Thrilled at the prospect of marrying a lord, Mrs. Malloy eagerly joins the competition. But after...