Summary

This is the story of how Frances Landon uses strategy to get her daughters married off to acceptable men and at what she deems to be acceptable ages. She herself married her husband Ted out of desperation. She was 24 years old and World War II reduced her chances of finding a decent man to marry so she married Ted before people started calling her an old maid.

Frances and Landon have three daughters: Pamela, Clare, and Imogen. They move to a small home in Devon in 1947 so that Ted can find success working in a rural setting, where he is most successful. Frances notices that hunting is the social event in the area for young people and she strategizes a way for her daughters to enter that society. Frances starts a friendship with a woman solely because she has extra horses to contribute...