The Card

It's the turn of the nineteenth into twentieth centuries in the town of Bursley, England. Edward Henry Machin, referred to as Denry in casual circumstances, is from humble origins being the son of a washerwoman, but he, ever since he was a child, has always been able to place himself into a position of higher society or to make money without either having to invest any money himself or do much work beyond manipulating the situation to that end. And every time he seems to have taken this climb as far as he can take it before either stalling or worse taking an irrevocable fall, he seems to be able to turn things around to his benefit. He may however have met his match in social climbing in Ruth Earp, a dance instructor who will hitch herself to whatever coattail best suits her upward aspirations.