The Sealed Letter

Based on a scandalous divorce case that gripped England in 1864, The Sealed Letter blends fact and invention to create a riveting, provocative drama of friends, lovers, and divorce – Victorian style.
Miss Emily Fido Faithfull is a woman of business and a spinster pioneer in the British women’s movement, independent of mind but naively trusting of heart. Distracted from her cause by the sudden return of her once-dear friend, the unhappily wed Helen Codrington, Fido is swept up in the intimate details of Helen’s failing marriage to a stuffy admiral and her obsessive affair with a young army officer. What begins as a loyal effort to help a friend explodes into a courtroom drama that rivals the Clinton affair – complete with stained clothing, accusations of adultery, counterclaims of rape, and a mysterious sealed letter that could destroy more than one life.
The Sealed Letter is a page-turner of the most intelligent sort. Brought to life by Emma Donoghue’s vivid characterizations and matchless eye for detail, here is a story remarkably relevant to contemporary issues of infidelity, propriety, and the media.
–Book Jacket.