Young Earnest: The Romance of a Bad Start in Life

"Young Earnest: The Romance of a Bad Start in Life" by Gilbert Cannan is a story set in the early 1900's, following a young man named John René Fourmy as he grapples with love, family secrets, and what society expects of him. As René waits for Cathleen, the woman he loves, his thoughts drift to his father's shameful history, casting a shadow over his hopes for the future. The weight of his family's past and his deep affection for Cathleen highlight his internal battle to define himself. The story begins by showing how René's family's past greatly effects his dreams of romance, revealing a heartfelt look at the problems of balancing love with the constraints imposed by society, while depicting the main character's development in the face of his family's troubled past.