The Lowest Rung: Together With the Hand on the Latch, St. Luke's Summer and the Understudy (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Mary Cholmondeley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0483692077 ISBN 13: 9780483692077

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Three linked novellas about love, duty, and the cost of truth.

This collected edition presents a quiet, powerful look at ordinary lives tested by extraordinary temptations. Rich in period detail, it invites readers to consider how courage, loyalty, and self‑deception shape who we become.

The Hand on the Latch

A woman sheltered a wounded, wandering soldier and must judge how far kindness can go when danger—and doubt—creep close. Tense, intimate, and morally complex, it probes the line between protection and peril in a stormy night of choices.

The Understudy

A life in the theatre reveals how ambition, love, and addiction ripple through a single career. The story follows a performer, her ally and rival, and the way talent competes with temptation. It asks what remains when the stage lights fade and the personal costs come due.

• Explore intimate moral dilemmas that test loyalty and forgiveness.
• Watch characters navigate fame, memory, and second chances.
• See quiet strength clash with social pressures in early 20th‑century Britain.

Ideal for readers who enjoy thoughtful character studies, period fiction, and tales that balance personal sacrifice with public life.

" THE LOWEST RUNG: TOGETHER WITH THE HAND ON THE LATCH, ST. LUKE'S SUMMER AND THE UNDERSTUDY" is a collection of Mary Cholmondeley's early 1908 work, offering a window into quiet moral drama that resonates across generations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0483692077
• ISBN 13: 9780483692077
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 180