Note: Written in 1879 or earlier; not published until 1984. SF Encyclopedia: "A Utopia with Lost-World elements [the book] was rejected by the Sydney Mail in 1879 and never published during her lifetime because of the forthrightness of its Feminist views on women's autonomy."

Synopsis: Publisher: "The Commonwealth of Columba has been isolated from the rest of the world in a valley in North America. When Australian traveller Hugh Keith chances upon it, he discovers a utopian community in which 'handfasting' - trial marriage - is a central feature. He meets Liliard Abercrombie, Columba's most talented actress and storyteller, who has to choose between her simple home and Victorian civilisation."