Description

Consequences (1919) follows Alex Clare, a well-bred Edwardian girl whose refusal of an eligible proposal exposes the ruthless calculus allotted to women: marriage or marginality. Delafield tracks Alex from drawing rooms and debutante rites to the rigors of a convent, rendering the tug between piety, desire, and duty with unsparing psychological acuity. The prose blends cool social comedy with an increasingly austere clarity, interrogating the religious and domestic ideologies that shape a life. Situated between late Victorian social critique and interwar psychological fiction, the novel's study of female formation shades, inexorably, toward tragedy. E. M. Delafield (1890–1943), daughter of novelist Mrs. Henry de la Pasture, briefly entered a religious community in 1911 before leaving, and later served as a VAD in the Great War. That experience, coupled with intimate knowledge of upper-middle-class manners, gives the book its authority; satire and sympathy continually test each other. Readers of feminist social fiction, Edwardian cultural history, or the moral psychology of vocation will find Consequences both elegant and unsettling. It rewards close attention with sharp observation, ethical seriousness, and a haunting question about a self denied room to become.

Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.