Dorothea Gerard

Supreme Crime, the Dorothea Gerard

A novel about a husband who believes his innocent wife guilty of poisoning his sister. The story depicts in considerable detail Ruthenian life in Austria, especially the priests of the Greek Church and their households: "For the enlightenment of English readers little acquainted with the religious customs of Eastern Europe, it is as well to point out, at the beginning of this story of Ruthenian life in Austria, that the representatives of this class belong to the branch of the Greek Church united to Rome, in which matrimony, although not absolutely obligatory for the clergy, is the almost universal condition. An aspirant not married at his ordination must be celibate for life-a rule which results in all Ruthenian priests, with very rare exceptions, being married men." Dorothea Gerard was a pseudonym of Mme. Longard de Longgarde (1855-1915).