Coniston

After William Wetherell's death, Jethro Bass takes up residence in the old tannery house in Coniston, determined to keep Cynthia close and protect the child he still thinks of as his own. Their home becomes an intimate world of reading, tenderness, and quiet dependency, even as Cynthia grows older and begins to sense the immense power Jethro wields in town. Around them, Coniston treats Jethro as both benefactor and political force, a man admired, feared, and quietly accepted as operating by rules beyond ordinary morality. That tension deepens as ambitious men come to the tannery house seeking his backing, while Cynthia's loyalty is tested by outsiders who hint at corruption in his politics. A young painter's visit brings romance and comedy, turning Cynthia into the subject of a secret portrait that the whole village helps create, with Jethro's rough pride and practical generosity giving the affair unexpected warmth. As railroads and modern industry begin to replace the old stage-road world, the novel traces a community caught between tradition and change, innocence and power, love and political calculation. Cynthia's growing awareness of Jethro's influence ultimately leads her into the adult realities that shape the state's leaders and the fate of the people around her. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.