Children of the Shadow

This is a 1924 Catholic romance novel by Isabel C. Clarke titled *Children of the Shadow*. The opening chapter introduces Vicky Wingrave, an eighteen-year-old girl awaiting a clandestine meeting with Martin Sedgwick in the woods of Pendre estate. Two years earlier, her father Lord Pendre had banished Martin, a war-wounded officer with modest means, deeming him unsuitable for his daughter. Now they reunite briefly before Martin departs to Malta. Their conversation reveals family tensions: Vicky fears her elder brother Eustace, returning from Iraq to assume duties as heir and eventually lord, will be trapped into marriage with the scheming Pamela. Martin expresses his frustration at their separation, wanting to marry Vicky immediately but lacking the wealth to overcome her father's opposition. The novel's central conflict concerns the obstacles to their union and the shadowy consequences of their defiant romance.