In the Lion's Den
A House of Falconer Novel
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4.0 • 15 Ratings
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford comes the highly anticipated second book in the House of Falconer saga.
James Lionel Falconer has risen quickly from a mere shop worker to being the right-hand man of Henry Malvern, head of the most prestigious shipping company in London. With Malvern's daughter Alexis running away to the country after a terrible tragedy and refusing to return, James' ascent to head of the company seems inevitable. But even a charmed life like James' is not without its setbacks.
A terrible fire threatens to end his merchant career before it's had a chance to truly begin. Mrs. Ward, James' former paramour, has a secret that could change his life forever. And his distaste for Alexis Malvern is slowly growing into feelings of quite a different sort. Can James continue to be the master of his own fate, or will all of his charm, intelligence, and wit finally fail him when he has to enter the lion's den?
Spanning the years from 1889 to 1892, In the Lion's Den is Barbara Taylor Bradford at her historical storytelling best.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Bradford adds a leisurely paced installment to her House of Falconer series (after Master of His Fate), set in Victorian England. The story tracks aspiring merchant James Falconer's rising career at the shipping and real estate firm Malvern Market, run by Henry Malvern. While Henry's middle-aged daughter, Alexis, the company's expected successor, grieves for her dead fianc , Henry promotes the ambitious James, 21, to second-in-command. After a family member embezzles from the firm, James proposes building a gallery of shops as a way to recoup those losses, but arson strikes the half-built gallery. (Though, curiously, no suspects are suggested, leaving readers to anticipate a reveal in a future series installment.) Bradford does offer a secret from James's past love life, staging a seductive tryst between James and the lovely Irina, a dress designer, while a highly charged love affair between James and Alexis moves the plot. Bradford evokes the Victorian setting with aplomb, but a ham-handed intervention by Alexis's late fianc 's adult daughter, who professes to have looked up to her while telling her to "get back looks," muddles the author's apparent appeal to current values with its adherence to Victorian convention. Series fans will enjoy following along as the plot deepens.
