Prologue and Part 1: Pages 7-31 Summary

Prologue: 3 August 1873. Selina is locked in her room in Mrs. Brink's house. Mrs. Brink has died of a heart attack after seeing Selina in a session with a young woman that had gone too far. Peter Quick showed up and the young woman, Miss Madeleine Silvester, became frightened, causing Peter Quick to calm her hysterics. Mrs. Brink walked in and thought she saw her mother. Mrs. Brink collapsed from a heart condition Selina did not know she had. Mrs. Silvester showed up and called the police.

24 September 1874. Miss Margaret Prior arrives at the gates of Millbank Prison where she has decided to become a Lady Visitor, a lady of class who comes to visit the female prisoners to help inspire them to lives void of crime. Mr. Shillitoe, the prison warden, had once visited the...