Phantom Fortune

In the glittering drawing rooms of London high society, where dinners are staged like performances and reputation is worth more than gold, Lady Maulevrier reigns with dazzling composure. Beautiful, intelligent, and utterly self-possessed, she moves through gossip, music, and political chatter as if nothing can touch her—even as whispers gather around her husband's disgrace in India. At last she reveals the shocking truth: Lord Maulevrier has resigned his post and is on his way home, bringing with him a storm of scandal, corruption, and possible treachery that may ruin them both. As the crisis deepens, Lady Maulevrier waits at Southampton with a small household and her loyal servant James Steadman, then brings her husband to Fellside, her beloved Westmoreland refuge, where his frailty, evasions, and desire to flee south clash with her cold determination to face the consequences. Around them, society remains as ruthless and judgmental as ever, its glitter masking moral decay. In Lady Kirkbank's notorious salon, the fashionable and the ambitious gather, and beautiful young Lesbia Haselden is launched into a world of elegance, intrigue, and emotional restraint, still haunted by her love for John Hammond. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.