The Vicar's Daughter

Many are used to perceiving Orwell only in the context of the dystopian genre, but the novel "The Vicar's Daughter" will introduce you to another Orwell, a master of psychological realism. England, the Great Depression era. Dorothy is the daughter... of the Reverend Charles Hayer, the vicar of St. Athelstan's Church in Suffolk. She is a skilled housekeeper, performing good deeds, trying to cultivate only good thoughts within herself, and when bad thoughts arise, she pricks her hand with a pin. Even when she is diligently sewing costumes for the school play, she is haunted by thoughts of the poverty that surrounds her and the debts she cannot afford to pay. And suddenly she finds herself in London. She is wearing silk stockings, has money in her pocket, and cannot recall her name... This is a novel about a girl who lost her memory due to an accident; she reconsiders faith and identity in a world of unemployment and hunger.