The Doctor's Dilemma by Hesba Stretton is about the mystery of Olivia's life. Olivia is a runaway and otherwise a stranger to a kind widower and his deaf mother. They must piece together Olivia's past and find out who she is – and what she may have done. Excerpt: "I think I was as nearly mad as I could be; nearer madness, I believe, than I shall ever be again, thank God! Three weeks of it had driven me to the very verge of desperation. I cannot say here what had brought me to this pass, for I do not know into whose hands these pages may fall; but I had made up my mind to persist in a certain line of conduct which I firmly believed to be right, while those who had authority over me and were stronger than I was, were resolutely bent upon making me submit to their will. The conflict had been going on, more or less violently, for months; now I had come very near the end of it. I felt that I must either yield or go mad."