Book One Summary

In chapter one, Daniel Deronda walks into a room filled with ladies and gentlemen at the gambling tables. Among them is an arresting young beauty named Gwendolyn Harlet. Daniel learns that she is in the city with cousins, the Langens. Though they don't meet that night, each asks friends about the identity of the other. In chapter two, Gwendolyn receives a letter from her mother, Fanny Davilow saying that they are in very dire financial circumstances, must give up the house they are renting, and urging Gwendolyn to come home at once. Gwendolyn had actually been significantly ahead at the gambling tables the night before but had allowed her preoccupation with Daniel to take precedence over prudence and had lost most of that money. Now she regrets that loss but determines to sell a necklace in order to gain a little...