Miss Ludington's Sister

First published in 1884, this novel by Edward Bellamy is a study in a particular sort of character, the sort of character who is fixated on the past rather than living in the present, and how this fixation affects the people around. It is the story of a young, beautiful woman with a shiny future ahead of her falls seriously ill. It takes her a long time to recover, and when she does, the illness has taken such a toll on her physically and mentally that she is hardly the same person any more. Her beauty is gone, her colors are faded, and all she wants now is to remember her past self with the happiness of her former life...