The Woman In The Alcove

The Woman in The Alcove by Anna Katharine Green is about New York in the early 1900s. At a party, a young woman is proposed to, another beautiful woman is murdered, and soulless killer dances and drinks all night long without facing consequences. Excerpt: «I was, perhaps, the plainest girl in the room that night. I was also the happiest—up to one o'clock. Then my whole world crumbled, or, at least, suffered an eclipse. Why and how I am about to relate. I was not made for love. This I had often said to myself; very often of late. In the figure, I am too diminutive, in the face far too unbeautiful, for me to cherish expectations of this nature.»