Three friends make their mark on the world in this captivating and moving saga. From the million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham, for fans of Louise Douglas and Dinah Jeffries.
‘Perfectly evokes the atmosphere of a bygone era…An entertaining Victorian romance’ — WOMAN’S OWN
‘I was surprised by this book. I’m not a romantic… but this did leave a little warm glow in my heart by the end.‘ – ***** Reader Review
‘A very enjoyable read, I loved the ending’ – ***** Reader Review
‘I laughed and cried at this tale, could visualise the characters, scenery and the story’ – ***** Reader Review
‘Great book, grabs you on the first page’ – ***** Reader Review
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THREE GREAT FRIENDS. THREE VERY DIFFERENT OUTCOMES…
Following the death of her mother, Leonie Lynch is brought up in London’s Eastgate Street by foster parents, her living expenses provided for by her young mother’s friend, Lady Angela Bentick.
When she turns eighteen, her godmother, the redoubtable Mrs Dodd, turns to Lady Angela to ask that she takes her on as a nurse at her nursing home and it is upon starting work that Leonie meets our two other heroines – Mercy Cordel and Dorinda Montgomery.
Mercy grew up at the family home, Cordel Court in Somerset, and shortly after her seventeenth birthday, was brought up to London by her stepmother for the London Season. Dorinda Montgomery, on the other hand, has hardly ridden up and down Rotten Row more than a half a dozen times before she has captured the heart of every masher around town. Within days she is a famous member of the demi-monde, with her own house and carriage in St John’s Wood.
Meanwhile, Mercy Cordel is hard put to find a dancing partner. That she eventually finds a husband in the hard-bitten, hard-riding John Brancaster is a source of happy amazement to her.
Society seems to reward Dorinda Montgomery more than it does the virtuous girl pushed into marriage with a suitably older husband. Certainly this is how it seems to Leonie Lynch, the only one of the three who has quite made up her mind to dedicate herself to something other than marriage…