The story is narrated by George Cranleigh, a farmer who falls in love with Dariel, the daughter of a Caucasian prince.

[4] In the opening chapter George, riding home from market, surprises a maiden of surpassing beauty upon her knees in a ruined chapel.

[3] A blood feud has arisen between Imar and his sister, and so he has, with his daughter, his foster-brother Stepan, and a body of retainers, come to England and settled peaceably in a deserted house in Surrey.

[3] After weeks of travelling and days full of desperate adventure, George, with the help of miners and Lesghians, rescues Dariel and her father and kills the wicked Princess and her fiendish son.

[5] The Publisher, on the other hand, loved the novel, stating that "the book is unquestionably the most important contribution made to fiction this year ... the love element is singularly fresh and delightful, ... the characters are alive in every fibre, and there are scores of those wonderful descriptions of nature in which Mr. Blackmore has no existing peer save Mr. Hardy or Mr.