This is the end of a glorious military career: General Leo Fitzjohn retires to his Sussex manor where he will write his memoirs. Unfortunately, his private life is a disaster: a confirmed womanizer, Leo has infuriated his wife Emily, now a shrewish and hypochondriac woman, all the more bitter as she still loves him. The General has two plain-looking daughters he dislikes and an attractive French mistress, Ghislaine, with whom he has had a platonic affair for seventeen years. When Ghislaine resurfaces, determined to complete her love with him and to get rid of Emily, Leo is at a loss what to do...—Guy Bellinger
It's the early twentieth century England. General Leo Fitzjohn has just retired with a distinguished military record. That record is despite his mind, and his hands for that matter, arguably more focused on the opposite sex. And the plethora of women that his hands have been on is despite, or perhaps because he is married, he no longer in love with his wife Emily Fitzjohn, whose ailments - she largely bedridden - and shrewish behavior he ultimately and long ago learned are a manifestation of her own unhappiness in their marriage. He also doesn't much like their two undistinguished daughters, Estella and Sidonia, who only seem to argue about which of the two of them will eventually marry his loyal and faithful young aide, Lieutenant Robert Fitch. Coinciding with his retirement is the unexpected arrival from Paris of Ghislaine, who he has known for seventeen years and who he has seen only once a year on his annual trip for a meeting in Paris. She has been waiting seventeen years to be with him, she having it all planned to marry him. In that confession, Leo comes to the realization that his special treatment of Ghislaine versus all the other women in his life is because she truly is the one he loves. In the process of making his and Ghislaine's life together a reality, Leo will find that it is not as easy as he believes it to be, especially in how to break the news to Emily. The longer that process takes, the more information comes to light that may change the face of their situation, including that they all really just want to love and be loved, and that the sanctity of marriage actually does mean something.—Huggo
