Asphodel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Like the Asphodel, a plant which grows far away from England, Daphne grows far away from home. In her first chance of freedom, at the age of almost 17, she finds an opportunity to forget for a while... Forget that her father, the renowned Sir Vernon Lawford, does not love her. To forget that, for some reason, nobody talks about her mother who traveled to the South of France and never returned. She can be a butcher's daughter from Oxford Street, she can control her friend's actions, she can fancy that she is in love with a man who does not even reveal his name. She returns home and faces the challenge of earning her father's love and carve a respectable place beside her beloved older half-sister. But what would she do when her past folly catch up with her? Would she find love and acceptance at last? - Summary by Stav Nisser.