[Gutenberg 50476] • The Three Miss Kings: An Australian Story

The Three Miss Kings - Elizabeth, Eleanor and Patty - were brought up in a remote seaside settlement in Victoria, Australia, their father a mysterious man of 'preposterous eccentricity', their late mother a dignified, accomplished woman who instilled in the girls an appreciation of 'spiritual and intellectual aspirations' which compensates for their lack of worldly experience. Such virtues serve the sisters well when, on the death of their father, they begin a new life in Melbourne. Under the watchful eye of one of society's more respectable patrons, they learn quickly about 'life, and love, and trouble, and etiquette among city folks' - to emerge radiant in their succession to both marriage and gentility. First published in 1891, *The Three Miss Kings* was one of Ada Cambridge's most popular novels, a delightful story of young women's gentrification in a colonial society still tied to the aspirations of its English forebears.