Diana Tempest (1893) is novel by Mary Cholmondeley. Partly based on
her experience as an artist from a wealthy landowning family, Diana
Tempest is a story of greed, romance, and betrayal that faced backlash
from critics for its controversial portrayal of female sexuality.
Satirical and deeply observant of the hypocrisies of Victorian society,
Diana Tempest is an essential work by one of Victorian England's
bestselling novelists. "Colonel Tempest, as a rule, took life very
easily. If he had fits of uncontrolled passion now and then, they were
quickly over. If his feelings were touched, that was quickly over too.
But to-day his face was clouded. He had tried the usual antidotes for an
impending attack of what he would have called 'the blues, ' by which he
meant any species of reflection calculated to give him that passing
annoyance which was the deepest form of emotion of which he was
capable." Unused to being denied, Colonel Tempest is unable to control
himself following the death of his brother. Rather than mourn his loss,
he laments the passing of the Tempest family fortune to his nephew John,
a secretly illegitimate child whose claim as heir is fabricated at best.
A notorious gambler, he makes a drunken bet that he will one day control
the estate, unwittingly placing a bounty on John's head. At the same
time, the Colonel's daughter Diana has begun to fall in love with the
young heir, complicating her father's plans and welcoming disaster into
her life. Diane Tempest is a tale of family, faith, and betrayal that
explores the Victorian concept of the New Woman without sacrificing its
entertaining narrative. With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Mary Cholmondeley's
Diane Tempest is a classic work of British literature reimagined for
modern readers.
