The First Violin

May Wedderburn is the seventeen year old daughter of the local pastor who wishes to escape from the unwanted attentions of Sir Peter Le Marchant. She befriends a kindly neighbor, Miss Hallam, who presents her an offer of a lifetime. Become Miss Hallam's companion, traveling with her to Germany and there receive musical training for her voice. They travel to Elberthal, a town in a country far from May's English home. May, however, loses herself at the train station in Köln. There she meets a stranger who helps her out of her difficulties, seeing as she knows no German. The memories that she makes that day will affect her future time in Germany.



Jessie Fothergill (1851-1891) was a British novelist. Fothergill was bought up at a farmstead called Carr End which had been in her father's family since the 17th century. She became popular with the publication of her novel The First Violin, a story of an English girl who rejects the attentions of the rich farmer for the strange attractions of a German. Fothergill is recognized today because her novels were agnostic about religion.