When her husband is suddenly killed in a car accident, the widowed Milly Bott is surprised to find that he has left her only a small fraction of his wealth, bequeathing the rest to a charity for fallen women, with the cryptic note that ‘my wife will know why’. From that moment she knows that her late husband must have known about her clandestine affair.
Milly tries to find ways in which to atone for her ‘sin’, while navigating the prejudices and preconceptions of the various members of the Bott family, eager to protect its good family name.
Published in 1929, Expiation is one of von Arnim’s lesser-known novels, but one in which she targets the narrow-minded and often hypocritical values of middle-class society of the time. Although the book confronts serious issues, threads of von Arnim’s dry humour run through the narrative as Milly pursues her uneven journey to expiation.