SPOILERS!!!
The book combines the present with Cassia’s past. Then we discover that Cassia stayed with Leonora and her husband, Richard, when she was studying medicine, and at some point Leonora ran away to France, and her brother, Bertie, explained to Cassia that Leonora was an addict to gambling. Her husband had tried to stop her but she couldn’t put up with that. So she moved to France, and got together with Rollo, a lover, who allowed her to do whatever she wanted.
Cassia’s romance and subsequent wedding with Edward was not very passionate. She met her when she was studying medicine and he was two years ahead of her. They went out a few times, but he begrudged the fact that she rubbed shoulders with wealthy people and he felt a lesser man. They stopped seeing each other, but they dated again when Cassia’s father died. Cassia wasn’t in love with him. Her great love was Rupert, an actor, but she knew Rupert was not for her. Edward was too old-fashioned and staid, and when she talked about being a doctor as well as a mother in the future, he didn’t like it. Then he took her to meet his parents one weekend, and when his parents caught them kissing in his bed, they showed their disapproval. Edward had to tell them that they were engaged, but they were not. And Cassia found herself in a situation which she didn’t know how to escape from. No wonder the scenes we have seen so far the relationship that Cassia and Edward have is too cold and distant.
My Reading Journal 