Without a Summer

In Kowal’s charming third Austen-influenced magical Regency novel (after Glamour in Glass), spouses Lady Jane and Sir David Vincent, who create magical artwork called “glamour,” accept a commission in London that leads to political turmoil and romantic complications. Coldmongers, who can magically affect temperature, are being blamed for the volcano-caused wintery spring, coinciding with unrest from the antitechnology Luddites. The Vincents observe mysterious potentially treasonous interactions involving their client’s son, Irish Catholic Alastar O’Brien; the Luddites; and the Worshipful Company of Coldmongers. Matters are further complicated by Vincent’s strained relations with his family and Jane’s efforts to find a spouse for her younger sister, Melody, who accompanies them for the season. Readers will appreciate the realistically warm and loving romance between Jane and Vincent all the more for their flaws and foibles, as their relationship is tested by internal and external forces. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, the Donald Maass Agency. (Apr.)