Bound with Love

Mulry returns to the whimsical and libertine Regency setting of Bound to Be a Groom with this sapphic tale of a particularly eventful summer for widows Nora White and Vanessa Montagu Cambury. The two women have been in love for 20 years and are comfortably settled in their life together. Then a disturbing letter hints that the daughter Nora thought was stillborn is very much alive and married with a child of her own. Nora must overcome her guilt for unintentionally abandoning her daughter and prepare for an intense reunion, in which the headstrong young woman might reject her. With support from Vanessa and some flirtatious artists with anachronistically progressive sexual mores, Nora finds the courage and confidence she needs to face these trials. Some readers will feel teased by the hints at a kink dynamic that never appears on the page, but the story is otherwise tender and satisfying, with a powerful emphasis on relationships among women. (June)