The Lost Girl is the story of Alvina Houghton, the daughter of an English draper with more imagination than sense, who falls in love with an Italian player in an itinerant variety act. Despite herself, she is attracted by his animal sexuality, and she abandons the mediocrity of a town and people that she never understood.

In this sophisticated psychological novel, this young Englishwoman, undergoes a journey of self-discovery, after finding herself alone in the world. Courted by several men, she does not make a final choice to commit to anyone until she finds her true love.