Part 1: A Victorian, Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 Summary and Analysis

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell is born to parents, Hugh Bell and Mary Shield Bell, on July 14, 1868, in Washington Hall, County Durham, England. Her family is a wealthy one whose money comes from a prosperous business of iron and coal manufacturing. Gertrude is raised under the watchful eye of her nanny and is groomed to be prim and proper and to, one day, become a dutiful wife as is the fate of all young girls in the Victorian Age in England.

At the age of two, Gertrude moves with her family to a new home called Red Barns located in Middlesbrough. In the winter of 1871, Mary Bell dies from complications giving birth to a son named Maurice. Gertrude and Maurice become constant companions and Hugh and Gertrude's relationship grows extremely close in the years...