Linnet was first published in book form by Grant Richards in 1898 and is Allen’s last substantial novel. A melodrama with well-drawn characters, the action-packed narrative moves between the Tyrol, London and Monte Carlo. The novel’s protagonist, Will Deverill, a composer of light operas, is on holiday in Austria, when he falls in love with a sennerin (dairymaid), the ‘Linnet’ of the title. A gifted but untrained singer, the uneducated peasant girl is a devout Catholic. In time, after terrific pressure is applied by her parish priest, she is married off to the greedy impresario of her village, Andreas Hausberger, during Deverill’s absence. Hausberger now faces the enmity of not only Deverill, but also Linnet’s other lover, Franz Lindner, a fiery young Alpine jager.