What a wonderful romance!
It’s superbly written and kept me up reading way too late. It’s the captivating
story of a rich American in Regency London and a waif of a young woman who lost
her place in the aristocracy due to one man’s evil. (The villains in this
story—and there are more than one, although one is more evil than the
others—are some of the best I’ve encountered.) There is great depth here with an intricately woven story.
It begins in 1796 when Hester
Devlin, Dowager Countess of St. Audries is dying just after the birth of her
daughter, Morgana. Months before, Hester’s husband was murdered—unbeknownst to
her, by his brother who wanted his title and his wealth. Overhearing the man’s
perfidy instructing another to “get rid of” Hester’s baby, she leaves clues in
a Bible and prays her child survives. Morgana does. By 1815, 19-year-old “Pip”
is living on the streets of St. Giles as a boy with two young men she thinks
are her brothers.
Royce Manchester is a handsome
American with lands in Louisiana and England, a connection to the nobility and
enough money to buy anything he wants. One day, while out with his friends, a street urchin (Pip) tries to pick Royce’s
pocket. Royce plucks the boy from the streets and decides to give him a
better life. When he discovers the boy is actually a woman named Morgana, he makes
her a maid in his London household—for her safety. But she is hardly safe from him,
as he wants her for his mistress. (Of course, he would never marry a petty
thief.) And then he recognizes her striking gray eyes…the St. Audries eyes! He assumes
she must be the bastard child of the earl, his enemy. Ah, the plot thickens.
400 pages of delightful
reading from a NY Times bestselling
classic author… action, mystery and many twists and turns. I recommend it!
Note: This book is related to
and follows MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE but either can be read as a stand alone.
Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very exciting read, and great depth missing in some more modern Regencies.
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