A certain splendour

In A Certain Splendour, Carola Salisbury tells the moving story of a young woman's journey from riches to rags. Faith Dangerfield enjoys the privileged life of British naval high society in the golden days before The Great War of 1914-18. The only daughter of a widowed Commodore, she plays hostess on her father's luxury yacht from Portsmouth to Malta, from Monte Carlo to Alexandria. But Faith's father makes what is thought to be a reckless manoeuvre at sea, resulting in his court martial and disgrace. The key witness at his trial is Jack Cummings, an officer to whom Faith ad formed an irresistible attraction - until he testifies against the Commodore. Her father's premature retirement from the Navy is followed by financial downfall for the Dangerfields, and for the first time in her life, Faith is forced to earn her own living - as a cleaning woman at a Mayfair hotel, where she is subjected to sweated labour accompanied by insults and humiliations. And to crown off her difficulties, she is confronted by Natasha Chalmers, the rich widow who once connived to marry her father before the crash - but has become Faith's bitter enemy. Faith wins through to a modest success in her work, and enjoys a brief happiness in love; until her life is again blighted by the revelation of a dreadful secret that forces her to see her own future in a new and heartbreaking light, and which only her courage and resolve can overcome.