Deerbrook portrays the failed love affair between Edward Hope, a local physician and Margaret Ibbotson, his sister-in-law. Married to Hester Ibbotson, Edward's life becomes a series of misfortune, first with his stifling marriage and second due to a vile rumour that he had robbed a grave! Excerpt: "Every town-bred person who travels in a rich country region, knows what it is to see a neat white house planted in a pretty situation,-in a shrubbery, or commanding a sunny common, or nestling between two hills,-and to say to himself, as the carriage sweeps past its gate, "I should like to live...