Overview

Great Expectations meets Grantchester in this story of love and lies, secrets and second chances, set in Edwardian England. Beaten and left for dead in the English countryside, clergyman and reformer Tom Cross is rescued and nursed back to health by Miranda and Simon Thorne, reclusive siblings who seem to have as many secrets as he does. Tom has spent years helping the downtrodden in London while lying to everyone he meets, but now he's forced to slow down and confront his unexamined life. Miranda, a skilled artist, is haunted by her painful past and unable to imagine a future. Tom is a welcome distraction from her troubles, but she's determined to relegate him to her fantasy world, sensing that any real relationship with him would be more trouble than it's worth. Besides, she has sworn to remain devoted to someone she's left behind. When Tom returns to London, his life begins to unravel as he faces the consequences of both his affair with a married woman and his abusive childhood. When his secrets catch up with him and his reputation is destroyed, he realizes that Miranda is the only person he trusts with the truth. What he doesn't realize is that even if she believes him and returns his feelings, he can't free her from the shackles of her past.

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9781643130521

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Reviews

A rich debut. Grounded in a wealth of research into the suffrage movement, the book will please readers who enjoy detailed historical recreations. With insight and sensitivity, Harwood explores century-old social mores and challenges that still echo loudly today. This frustrating but tender romance, teetering between hope and despair, doubtless represents many relationships challenged by change. The story is best for readers interested in women's rights and the British suffrage movement. Anyone pining for a passionate yet principled historical romance will fall hard for this impossibly readable story. It's the perfect thing for a long weekend. But months later, readers will still recall the harrowing descriptions of imprisoned, abused women. Lilia's pointed, challenging questions will linger even longer. A smart and highly civilized tale about love, temptation, and second chances. Harwood has taken the villain from her last novel and turned him into a sympathetic, if flawed, protagonist. Both historical-fiction and historical-romance fans will relish this novel, in which characterization is strong and realistically informed by backstories and in which two damaged people come to truly know themselves and find their missing pieces in each other.

A rich debut. Grounded in a wealth of research into the suffrage movement, the book will please readers who enjoy detailed historical recreations. With insight and sensitivity, Harwood explores century-old social mores and challenges that still echo loudly today. This frustrating but tender romance, teetering between hope and despair, doubtless represents many relationships challenged by change. The story is best for readers interested in women's rights and the British suffrage movement. The perspective is refreshing in that the church is not the villain, nor are all the suffragettes cardboard cutouts. One interesting aspect is the novel's exploration of the contrast in ideologies between the more conservative, peaceful suffrage groups and the militant, property-destroying Women's Social and Political Union. This parallels the spectrum in today's protest-heavy atmosphere, lending the novel contemporary social relevance in addition to its romantic plotline. Anyone pining for a passionate yet principled historical romance will fall hard for this impossibly readable story. It's the perfect thing for a long weekend. But months later, readers will still recall the harrowing descriptions of imprisoned, abused women. Lilia's pointed, challenging questions will linger even longer.

Author Information

Clarissa Harwood holds a PhD in English Literature with a specialization in Nineteenth-Century British Literature. In addition to being a proud member of the Historical Novel Society, Clarissa is a part-time university instructor and full-time grammar nerd who loves to explain the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. She lives in London, Ontario.

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