The Rose of Darbley

The ROSE OF DARBLEY is a story set in the Victorian era about a young man named Fredric (Freddie) Allon Harrington, who at the age of twenty attends Trinity College at Cambridge in England during mid-1840s. His close knit family lives at Greenhaven Estate near Cary, England, an agrarian community in Hampshire. His soon-to-be brother-in-law describes him as "the son of a country gentleman with all the charm and delights that position can bring. He is extremely intelligent. His country manners are--delightful. He is unpretentious, witty, likable, discernible, and amiable. He could be confortable in the society of the lowest field worker or the Queen of England." At the age of fourteen, after a severe illness, Freddie experiences a spiritual vision that has given direction for his life until he meets JoAnna Fleming, the young sister of William Fleming. It is JoAnna who keeps Freddie faithful to his vision.