The Inner Shrine

At the opening of this story Diane Eveleth returns from a party in Paris to her mother-in-law, who tells her that her husband George Eveleth has been killed in a duel, fought with the Marquis de Bienville. Diane secretly transfers her remaining patrimony to her mother-in-law and the two women sail for New York, where the elder woman has relatives.

Here Diane is offered the situation of chaperone for the daughter Dorothea of Derek Pruyn, a widower whom she has met before. Eventually, Pruyn makes her an offer of marriage. She withholds her answer until his return from a voyage to South America, when she is prepared to accept him, but on his home-coming she finds his attitude towards her completely changed. Pruyn has encountered de Bienville on his voyage and has heard from him that Diane was unfaithful to her husband.

The book concentrates on how the relationships between the various protagonists develop. (Summary by Simon Evers) (7 hr 53 min)

Chapters

Chapter 1	19:31	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 2	24:05	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 3	22:37	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 4	20:48	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 5	18:44	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 6	17:41	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 7	25:34	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 8	30:49	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 9	17:34	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 10	10:37	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 11	25:21	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 12	13:27	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 13	23:17	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 14	11:37	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 15	15:10	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 16	15:03	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 17	17:55	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 18	15:21	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 19	8:31	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 20	22:10	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 21	19:03	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 22	22:44	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 23	19:47	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 24	11:36	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 25	14:24	Read by Simon Evers
Chapter 26	10:26	Read by Simon Evers

Reviews

Exhausting

(3 stars)

Margaret87

I didn't realise I was so modern and impatient, but I find the interminable discussions about morality and what a paragon of womanly perfection is (was/should be ....) really tiring - worse than some Trollopes. It's a good story that I enjoyed when there was "action" and things moved forward. The last couple of chapters seemed to break up. Otherwise, beautifully read by Simon Evers.

(4 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Excellent reading as usual from Evers. Unfortunately the audio recording is very patchy on the last few chapters.

(5 stars)

KAB

Loved it-the story & the reader. Some really unfortunate audio problems in the last few chapters, though.

(3.5 stars)

Julie Abadir

fantastic narration, poor recording. Towards the end it becomes untenable.

acceptable recording of narrator til the end

(4 stars)

Ms. Elizabeth

Engaging and entertaining