Caroline knows best.

Caroline’s mother ran away from her father when Caroline was four years old, and her father and stepmother died fifteen years later, leaving her with a young step-brother and two young step-sisters to bring up. Orphaned, and in the care of their eldest sister, the three children grow up in a world where one thing is true: Caroline knows best.

The children adore her, but as they grow up and spread their wings, tension creeps into formerly happy relationships as Caroline cannot bear to relinquish her hold on them. Having sacrificed her own life for the children, to whom she is practically a mother, Caroline values loyalty above all else; but when she invites a guest into her home, she is not prepared for the resulting shift in allegiances in her long-established realm.

First published in 1936, Caroline offers a nuanced study of family relationships, of women trapped by duty and respectability, and how good intentions can sometimes have unwanted consequences. One of Richmal Crompton’s ‘lost’ adult novels, Bello is proud to bring eleven of these titles back into print for the first time since original publication.