Episode 7

Juliet Stevenson reads F M Mayor's unfairly Neglected Classic, the story of a plain, reliable parson's daughter whose life of duty and service is thrown into confusion by an unexpected and unsought love affair. Today Mary flees Dedmayne, in turmoil after a single passionate embrace with Mr Herbert. Kathy, meanwhile, has made plans to escape the Herberts' unhappy marriage - but all will not go to plan.
The Reader is Juliet Stevenson
Abridger Sally Marmion
Producer Di Speirs

F M Mayor's masterful novel, The Rector's Daughter, is a rare thing - a novel with a deceptively small canvas, set in the backwaters of a dull East Anglia a century ago, but still as fresh as ever. Much loved by those who have discovered it, it now comes to Radio 4 as one of the Open Book listeners' Neglected Classics.