Desperate remedies. Thomas Hardy. 1998.

Cutherea Graye has taken a position as lady’s maid to the eccentric and scheming Miss Aldclyffe. When the young woman discovers that the man she loves is already engaged to someone else, she falls under the undesirable influence of her employer’s steward, Aeneas Manston - an attractive and manipulative man with dark secrets to hide. Complete with intrigue, blackmail, illegitimacy, adultery, false brides, horrifying revelations and murder.