"Looking for acceptance from his new congregation, the Revd Ernest Lindley cannot long ignore the fact that his parishioners are far from welcoming. Rather than confront such hostility, the Lindleys instead become ever more isolated: he 'pale and miserable and neutral'; she 'bitter and beaten by fear'. And having raised their children to be similarly dispassionate, it surely seems inevitable that their daughters should enter suitable, but loveless, marriages. Whilst Mary becomes the dutiful wife, younger sister Louisa vows to experience love for herself - little knowing that such desires will divide an already broken family." "Elsewhere in the parish, Alfred Durant, recently returned from the navy, struggles to adjust to life in the pits, as well as coping with the imminent death of his beloved mother. His involvement with the Lindley family only serves to bring him further disquiet."--BOOK JACKET.