A Little Folly
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A witty and romantic novel of Regency love, family and appalling scandal, from one of our greatest historical novelists. Sir Clement Carnell was the most domineering and strait-laced of fathers, and his death has left his children Louisa and Valentine with a sense of release. While Valentine throws open the Devonshire estate of Pennacombe to their fashionable cousins from London, Louisa feels free at last to reject the man her father chose as her prospective husband - Pearce Lynley. Soon the temptations of Regency London beckon - including Lady Harriet Eversholt, beautiful, scandalous, and very married, with whom Valentine becomes dangerously involved; while Louisa finds that freedom of choice is as daunting as it is exciting. Will the opportunity to indulge, at last, in a little folly lead to fulfillment - or disaster?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The pseudonymous Morgan's twist-packed new novel (after The Secret Life of William Shakespeare) finds Valentine and Louisa Carnell under the thumb of their father, a man of "harsh, narrow, and illiberal views" whose tyrannical temper and impossible standards keeps them largely isolated on the Regency-era palatial Devonshire estate. But his death, "struck by a paroxysm that dropped him speechless to the ground," gives the siblings, now into their 20s, freedom to be in the world; they'll redecorate the drawing room, throw dinner parties, and reject, in Louisa's case, the vain suitor of her father's choosing. They also open their home to Tom and Sophie, long-lost cousins from London, and to their cousins' traveling companion, the mysterious Lady Harriet Eversholt, whose scandalous circumstances capture Valentine's attention. At Tom and Sophie's urging, it's on to London, where everyone is celebrating the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Valentine frequents Lady Harriet's gambling house, and Louisa strikes up a promising friendship with the brooding lieutenant Lynley. But city life has its pitfalls: Valentine's gambling debts accrue and Lady Harriet's jealous husband threatens to destroy the Carnells' fortunes and reputation. Morgan's preoccupation with capturing the exact timbre of Regency literature results in the occasional stilted, leaden passage, but her wry, snappy dialogue and well-formed characters are a delight.
