Summary

Chapter 1 – The scene of the novel is set in southwest England in the small harbor town of Lyme Regis in 1867. Lyme is famous for its beautiful gray cobb, or seawall, which stretches out into the ocean. A solitary, dark-dressed figure stands out on the wall.

Chapter 2 – Charles Smithson and his fiancée Ernestina Freeman are out walking on the cobb. Charles is a gentleman and a paleontologist from London who values Darwin’s theories on evolution and natural selection. Ernestina’s father is a wealthy trader who does not like Darwin. At the end of the cobb, they see the dark figure, a woman whom Ernestina calls “Tragedy”. Tragedy is a nickname for the woman, who is also referred to as “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”.

Tragedy is a servant to Mrs. Poulteney, a friend of the Freemans’. Tragedy is the stuff of gossip. She...