Lavender and Old Lace is an Edwardian romance novel written by Myrtle Reed and published in September 1902.

The book follows in Reed's long history of inciting laughter and tears in her readers through provocative prose.

Miss Jane Hathaway is an astute pillar of a quaint coastal community, where her house sets atop a hill.

The letter, from Aunt Jane, does not explain her sudden trip abroad, but instructs Ruth to light an oil lamp in the attic each night.

There's also some newspaper clippings; an announcement of marriage between Mr. Charles G. Winfield, captain of the schooner Mary, and Miss Abigail Weatherby.

Instead, she visits her aunt's childhood friend, Mary Ainslie, whom the locals call "peculiar", because she never leaves her house.

Ruth is immediately taken with Miss Ainslie's saintly demeanor and quickly forms a friendship with her.

Ruth's solitude is broken by Carl Winfield, a fellow journalist, who is staying in town at the suggestion of their mutual boss.

With this much excitement, it's difficult to imagine the surprise when Aunt Jane returns, a married woman!

Not trusting the "heathen laws" with which she was married, Aunt Jane rushes to put forth a Christian union with one priest and two witnesses, Ruth and Carl.

When Aunt Jane, now Mrs. Ball, discovers her husband's roving eye, she fires Hepsey and sends Ruth away, using her honeymoon as an excuse.