The Stepmother

"I know nothing - I don’t even know what my own money’s invested in... You don’t know what it’s like for me to go on working in the dark, spending everything I make, as I make it."

Eustace Gaydon is a reckless investor, barely keeping up appearances of affluence. When his wealthy sister passes away, he naturally expects this to be the solution to his money problems, but instead discovers that she has left her fortune to Lois Relph, a naive orphan of nineteen. The only way for Eustace to get his hands on the

money is by marrying the girl.

Ten years later, Lois is Eustace’s wife, a devoted stepmother to his daughters, and runs a successful business as a dressmaker. But her determination to provide for the family’s future and secure a good marriage for the eldest daughter is threatened by her husband’s precarious finances and manipulative attitude.

This 1924 family drama by suffragist Githa Sowerby explores the struggles of an independent-minded woman in what was still very much a man’s world.