A bit of rough road

"A bit of rough road" by Amy Le Feuvre is a novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Hope St. Clair, a celebrated London society girl whose spiritual awakening pulls her away from pleasure-seeking toward faith and family duty in a quiet cathedral town. Expect a reflective, gently evangelical story about conscience, class, and the cost of choosing usefulness over ease.

The opening of the novel shows Hope’s glittering life in London punctured by a searing sermon and the serene power of cathedral worship, which leaves her restless for “peace, perfect peace.” As she and her formidable aunt, Mrs. Daubeney, decamp to Kayminster, Hope is drawn to devout Mrs. Dane, observes the contrasting Chesney sisters, fends off a persistent suitor, and shares spiritual stirrings with Lady May Fosberry. News then arrives that her widowed father has returned from Canada, ailing and burdened with two small sons; after an awkward hotel reunion and a tug-of-war with her aunt’s expectations, a pleading letter from the boys tips the balance. Hope breaks from Homburg, returns to Kayminster, and, amid domestic chaos and her father’s irritable decline, resolves to make herself useful—signaling the story’s turn from social whirl to service and steadying faith. (This is an automatically generated summary.)