The Penalty

This novel is essentially about relationships between men and women; their successes and failures. In this book, we meet Barbara, a young, pretty and well-connected girl, and Wilmot Allen. The pair have known each other for many years and were once of equal status in family terms, but Wilmot's father was a gambler, heavy drinker and generally bad lot who killed himself and left his son with no money. One wonders what will become of these two…