Helen with the high hand (original 1910; edition 2009)

It is difficult to say who is the more delightful in this charming domestic comedy: James Ollerenshaw or high handed Helen who arrives to disturb his miserly, measured existence. When Helen Rathbone met her estranged step-uncle James on a park bench in one of the Five Towns, no citizen of this provincial manufacturing region could have guessed what a turn events would take, least of all the two protagonists. Helen was quite convinced she could could change James Ollerenshaw for the better, whilst he was equally determined she should not. From that moment their lives were inextricably bound together and would affect many more inside and outside their circle. (Allan Sutton Pocket Classics summary)