The prequel to Lehmann's The Weather in the Streets (1936), the novel follows the preparations of two sisters, Kate and Olivia Curtis, for Sir John and Lady Spencer's dance.
[1] BBC Radio recorded and broadcast in 2001 a dramatization by Tina Pepler as Olivia's stream of consciousness.
She receives gifts like a diary, a China ornament, a ten-shilling note and a roll of silk.
[4] The second part takes place during the week that divides Olivia's birthday and the waltz she is invited to.
Olivia is preparing for her first dance, something complicated by her age and expectations (as the demands of womanhood fight with her girlhood).