Elective Affinities

“On a country estate, Eduard and Charlotte, married at last after long separation, invite two others into their quiet life: Eduard's friend the Captain and Charlotte's young niece Ottilie. As in the chemical reaction the Captain explains one evening, the pairs dissolve and recombine — Eduard drawn irresistibly to Ottilie, Charlotte to the Captain — and duty, passion and chance work their way through gardens, a lake, a chapel and a child, to a quiet and terrible end.”