Theodora Lynn is quietly rebelling against the puritanical ideals of her small town of Lynnfield--population 4,426--but most specifically the literary circle of which she, her aunts and most of the town's leading but busybody women belong. First, she is helping her Lynnfield friend Adelaide Perry secretly deal with a pregnancy in New York City. Adelaide is married, but no one in her family knows or would approve of her marriage. And second, Theodora, under the nom de plume Caroline Adams, has written a steamy book which is scandalizing the women of the literary circle. Theodora has been able to keep these two parts of her life separate, only her Uncle John Lynn knowing about her book, and her editor Arthur Stevenson knowing of her real identity as the straight-laced Theodora Lynn. Her life becomes more complicated when the illustrator of her book, Michael Grant, finds out about her real identity and goes to Lynnfield to make her open up out of her small town existence. As Theodora and Michael spend more time together, they fall in love with each other. But when Theodora learns a secret that Michael is keeping, she teaches him that he needs a bit of his own medicine while coming to the realization of what she needs to do to truly break free of the small-mindedness of those in Lynnfield.
—Huggo