the reader of books

Bel (which annoyingly stands for Beatrice Elizabeth Lamington) is a young girl who lives and works in the city. She is an orphan; raised by a loving aunt, upon her aunt's death, she moves into a tiny flat in London and begins working as a secretary for a prominent shipping company. Eventually, her dedication to her work brings her to the attention of Mr. Brownlee, a younger-ish partner at the firm, who promptly asks her to be his personal secretary. This causes some discord amongst the other secretaries, particularly the evil harpy that is head of the pool, but Bel tries to stay out of the drama. Meanwhile, Bel lives a lonely life, which is interrupted when she becomes attached to a young artist that appears uninvited on her balcony. Things fall apart for poor Bel -- the artist moves to Italy indefinitely with no regard for Bel or her feelings, and her boss goes away on business and things come to a head at the office, leading to her dismissal. Completely devastated, she agrees to accompany an old school friend and her father to Scotland, where she slowly recuperates. Eventually, she decides to stay in Scotland as a temporary housekeeper/cook for friends of the family, but lo and behold, Mr. Brownlee appears and whisks her off her feet because he is madly in love with her. This was sweet, though Bel was irritating and Mr. Brownlee literally appeared out of nowhere. I was a little disappointed because it had none of the humor of Green Money (and Bel herself was almost entirely humorless), but it was still a sweet story.