The Ballad of Mary Kearney

Mezzacappa (The Maiden of Florence) whisks readers to 18th-century County Down, Ireland, for this lavishly detailed historical romance. In 1767, after Thomas Kearney’s wife and newborn die in childbirth, he sends his grown daughter Mary to join two of her siblings who work in service at Goward Hall. Mary becomes enamored of James, Viscount Kilkeel, who lives at the estate, which he will one day inherit, with his married mistress, Lady Mitchelstown. After Lady Mitchelstown dies in an accident, Mary is the only one willing to help prepare her body for burial, impressing James with her grit. He attempts to seduce her—but fails until he offers marriage. The catch is that Mary wants a Catholic priest to officiate, which would require their marriage to remain secret because James would lose certain rights if he revealed that he was Catholic. Eventually, Mary agrees to marry James in the Anglican Church, but their relatively contented life is threatened with the possibility of James’s exposure as a member of the rebel group the United Irishmen. Mezzacappa brings nuance and a great depth of historical knowledge to the cross-class romance between a servant and a nobleman. Readers who like their romance heavy on the history will be enchanted. (Jan.)