A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting
Sophie Irwin. Viking/Dorman, $27 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-49134-8
In Irwin’s sparkling debut, set in Regency-era England, a young woman’s plans to marry into wealth get derailed when the brother of her would-be beau catches on to her scheme. After Kitty Talbot’s fiancé calls off their engagement, she needs to find a new way to pay off the debts she and her four sisters inherited after the deaths of their parents. With dwindling funds, Kitty and her sister Cecily travel from Dorsetshire to London to stay with their aunt Dorothy, a widowed former actor. There, Kitty sets her sights on the moneyed Archibald de Lacy, but his brother Lord Radcliffe soon arrives in town and, recognizing Kitty’s motives, tries to prevent an engagement between her and Archie. Radcliffe is taken by surprise when Kitty promises to stop pursuing Archie if Radcliffe introduces her to high society so that she might meet a new suitor. He agrees, but quickly realizes that there’s more to Kitty than he first assumed, and the attraction between them deepens. Irwin’s zippy narrative is enhanced by the wry banter between Kitty and Radcliffe (“ ‘Perhaps I ought to compile a suitable list,’ [Radcliffe] said thoughtfully, ‘of gentlemen rich enough to satisfy you and yet so lacking in moral character that I feel no guilt about unleashing you upon them’ ”). Jane Austen fans will be charmed. (July)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/09/2022
Genre: Fiction
Library Binding - 500 pages - 978-1-63808-441-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 480 pages - 978-0-7352-4507-5
Other - 1 pages - 978-0-593-49135-5
Paperback - 336 pages - 978-0-593-49197-3
Paperback - 336 pages - 978-0-7352-4505-1
Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-00-851956-8