June Barraclough s two previous novels

have been distinguished by their intelligent

heroines who struggle against the conven-

tions of nineteenth-century society. In

Kindred Spirits, she chronicles an artistic

young woman s search for love in the

literary London of Byron and Shelley.

When Jane Banham s father dies she is

forced to leave the country village of her

youth to live with an unknown uncle in

London. She is distressed by the sudden

upheaval in her life, but the sixteen-year-

old orphan s spirits revive when her uncle

introduces her to the leading lights of

London s literary world.

Philip March, the dashing young editor of

a new magazine, offers to publish some of

her writing, while Fred Digby--a sensitive

man trapped in an unhappy marriage--

invites her to parties at his Hertfordshire

home.