Carolyn Korsmeyer

Charlotte Lucas, a character first appearing in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, has made an unfortunate marriage to the loquacious William Collins, reckoning that his tedious conversation is a small price to pay for a prosperous home and family. However, trouble brews within the first few months of marriage. To ease the strain of their relationship, Charlotte leaves her husband to visit the fashionable city of Bath with several women companions.
The weeks there prove to be a time for self-discovery and freedom, and the marital frost begins to thaw. However, events in Bath result in an unfortunate, even calamitous, consequence. Charlotte devises an audacious solution that combines bold connivance and compassionate duplicity, pursuing her hope of happiness with the wit and courage to seek it.