The Diamond Slipper

Feather's (Virtue) latest, is full of sharp and often disquieting contrasts that may rattle some readers. The book starts in a sweetly frivolous tone as Lady Cordelia Brandenburg is married by proxy, at the same time her best friend, Marie Antoinette is pledged to the future dauphin. Cordelia is the typical cute-and-plucky naif who quickly decides that she's in love with Viscount Leo Kierston, the stand-in for her intended, a widowed prince with small twin daughters. Together, the proxied brides are to travel to Versailles to join their husbands and solemnize their marriages. Maybe, given the fate of her good friend, readers shouldn't be surprised when Cordelia's own story switches from lighthearted to disturbing: when she arrives at her new home, she learns that her husband intends to break her spirit, ignores his children, enjoys sexual perversion and murdered his first wife. The promise of a happy ending may not be enough for everyone to stay with it until the bittersweet end. (Feb.)