The Buttercup Fields

Since they were pupils in the village school, it had been obvious that Becca the ploughman's daughter and George the blacksmith's son would one day marry. But Becca's scheming younger sister, Ellen, upsets their plans with a shocking announcement: she is pregnant with George's child.

Shock and disillusionment sour Becca's good nature, but it is partly restored when Jethro, newly returned to the district, begins to pay her attention and eventually proposes marriage. He has inherited a nearby...