Joyce

"Joyce" by Mrs. Oliphant is a late 19th-century novel, which centers on a young woman named Joyce as she balances her ordinary life with the high society she encounters. Themes of identity, social class, and the search for where one truly belongs are examined as seen through Joyce’s relationships with the upper-class Colonel and Captain Bellendean. When Norman Bellendean, now of age, comes home from military service to inherit his family's estate, celebrations occur, and Joyce captures the attention of Colonel Hayward with her remarkable beauty and mysterious background. The novel begins a social drama where Joyce, a schoolteacher and a foundling, struggles with her past and what others expect of her, suggesting ties to the noble class and highlighting her fight for self-understanding amidst conflicting social worlds.