First published by Heinemann, London and Putnam, New York in 1957, it is the story of intelligent and desperate Phoebe who ends up marrying the man she has run away from home to avoid, and whom she has caricatured as the villain in her novel.

Terrified of being made to marry Sylvester and getting no sympathy from her father, Phoebe calls upon a childhood friend, Tom Orde, to help her run away to live with her grandmother, Lady Ingham, in London.

Unfortunately, Lady Ianthe and her new husband, foppish Sir Nugent Fotherby, are going to France on their honeymoon with Edmund, her son, from the same port.

Edmund is sea-sick and Lady Ianthe is ill so Phoebe and Tom take over the care of the small child.

Sylvester Rayne, the Duke of Salford - the 28-year-old hero; whose father died when he was 19; ducal estate is named Chance Miss Phoebe Marlow - the 19-year-old heroine, a debutante and secret writer, whose mother died when she was less than two weeks old; raised by her father and stepmother Mr Thomas "Tom" Orde - Phoebe's 19-year-old childhood friend, neighbour, and surrogate brother; lives at the Manor House, the only child of the local Squire and his wife, Mr and Mrs Orde Elizabeth Rayne, Dowager Duchess of Salford - Sylvester's beloved, charming mother; a poet; an invalid, disabled by an arthritic illness and unable to walk unaided Dowager Lady Ingham - Sylvester's godmother and Phoebe's grandmother; in her mid-60's; mother to the late Verena Marlow and a son Lady Ianthe Rayne - widow of Sylvester's younger twin brother, Harry, who died of illness four years ago; also called "Lady Henry"; daughter of Lord and Lady Elvaston Edmund Rayne - Lady Ianthe's six-year-old son and Sylvester's only nephew and heir; Sylvester is his sole guardian Sir Nugent Fotherby - a very wealthy but ridiculous and foolish dandy Button - currently Edmund's nurse, formerly Sylvester and Harry's nurse Lord Marlow - Phoebe's 53-year-old father, a weak, good-natured but unintelligent man famed for his excellent horsemanship in hunting circles; his country seat, Austerby, is 90 miles from London Lady Constance Marlow - Phoebe's unkind and critical stepmother; mother of Phoebe's half sisters, Susan (15), Mary (13), Eliza, and Kitty Miss Sibylla "Sibby" Battery - the Marlow's gruff governess who is kind to Phoebe and her sisters; cousin to a junior partner in a publishing firm John Keighley - Sylvester's middle-aged groom since his childhood and private friend Major and Mrs Newbury - Sylvester's favorite cousin and her husband who live modestly in London