The Real Charlotte is not so much the story of Charlotte Mullen, a fortyish Irish spinster, as it is about her young cousin, Francie Fitzgerald. Aged 19, Francie is a beautiful orphan who has come to live with her cousin after the death of an elderly relative, whose dying wish was that Charlotte take care of her.
Francie had been living with Dublin with relatives who have recently fallen on hard times, so she’s been sent to live with Charlotte in the country, at Tally Ho Lodge.
The Real Charlotte is one of the great novels of the long forgotten Anglo Irish gentry class. The storyline is far different form the usual novels by Somerville & Ross. Their most famous books central character is the Irish R M and his comic adventures in West Cork