The Colonel's Courtship

That's what you'll say to yourself as you read this book. Wicked indeed, is the Machiavellian plotting of the author, and her 'wicked' wit. Wicked, too, are the machinations of the heroine's father and step-son-in-law as they try to keep the poor widow, Lady Suzanne Phelps away from her once-and-former love, the near-to-pauper son of the village vicar, Colonel Stephen Gracechurch. Wicked, also, was the war that separated them in the first place, but then, war is always wicked. (What is NOT wicked, however, is the author's writing talent. That is just simply marvelous.) Although she had promised to wait for Stephen, her social-climber father starved her until she submitted to his command to marry an aging knight. HIS daughter would be the ranking lady of the neighborhood, or else, and nothing else mattered to the squire. And even though the knight had the grace to not linger over-long, he left behind his son from an earlier marriage, Oren Phelps, who, of course, has his own agenda. Stephen, back from the wars, wealthy from his service to the Rothschilds knowing nothing of the truth of the matter, constantly puts himself in the wrong to Suzanne, necessitating apology after apology after apology. For Suzanne, unbeknownst to Gracechurch, has been assisting his widowed mother in every way possible, including having a tumble-down cottage rebuilt for her, furnishing it, having a shed rebuilt to include stabling for horses and lodgings for a groom or valet, and bringing gifts of food, wine and bedding plants.The squire and Phelps try to keep the former lovers apart, spreading scandalous lies about Gracechurch's honor, having his mother's house attacked and garden destroyed, having him shot, and even hiring a London doxie to pretend she is his former convenient, and a climbing boy to be their 'son'. When that fails, Phelps then chooses another bride for Gracechurch, and orders Suzanne (who still loves Gracechurch despite herself) to foster the match.Gracechurch and Suzanne are ever at loggerheads. Gracechurch's bitter fury with her in the present is a measure of the depth of his love and his despair in the past, when she wed another. He's constantly learning he's been in the wrong, and finds himself apologizing to Suzanne for his false assumptions. Naturally he's unaware until almost the end, of the pressures brought to bear on Suzanne years ago, including her father starving her to the point where a physician had to be summoned, or that Suzanne attempted to run away and join him after her father refused permission for Gracechurch and Suzanne to be wed. It takes the efforts of Suzanne's elderly mother-in-law, plus the Duke of Wellington, Hannah Rothschild (Nathan's wife), and a few hundred others to finally reunite Suzanne and Gracechurch. You'll want to stand up and cheer their combined efforts!