A Sheaf of Corn by Mary E. Mann is a novel about the woes of poverty and rural English life. Mann follows the life of Dinah Brome, an excellent housekeeper with a mother at home. Excerpt: "A fine time o' day to bake his fourses cake!" the woman outside commented, reaching on tiptoe, the better to look in at the window. The tin having its complement of cakes, the sick woman essayed to carry it to the oven. But its weight was too much for her; it hung limply in her weak grasp; before the oven was reached the cakes were on the ragged carpet of the hearth. "God in heaven!" ejaculated the woman looking in."