Heart and Cross

Heart and Cross unfolds as a richly observed Victorian family novel, following the Harley circle through courtship, inheritance, marriage, and the moral pressures of duty. At its center is Derwent Crofton's lively household at Hilfont, where his sharp-eyed little son Derwie—scarred, curious, and impossible to ignore—wins every heart while quietly revealing the emotional truth of those around him. Through Clare Crofton's candid wit, the novel explores matchmaking, social expectation, and the uneasy balance between practical arrangements and private feeling, especially in the case of Alice Harley and the persistent Mr. Reredos. Mrs. Oliphant deepens the domestic drama with the brilliant but idle Maurice Harley, whose conversation exposes the cost of wasted gifts, and with the earnest curate Owen, who stands for work, marriage, and ordinary responsibility. Flirtation, vanity, and double standards animate the household, even as Johnnie's imaginative book and the Indian Mutiny widen the novel's emotional range into fear, pity, and national anxiety. When wounded Bertie Nugent returns from India, the family's private hopes and unspoken loves come sharply into view, giving the story its blend of tenderness, irony, and hard-earned feeling. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.