What we would do for our own family…

Synopsis

The Talbots are wealthy. But their wealth is from ‘trade’. With neither ancient lineage nor title, they struggle for entrance into elite Regency society. Finally, aided by an impecunious viscount, they gain access to the drawing rooms of England’s most illustrious houses.

Once established in le bon ton, Mrs Talbot intends her daughter Jocelyn to marry well, to eliminate the stain of the family’s ignoble beginnings. But the young men Jocelyn meets are vacuous, seeing Jocelyn as merely a brood mare with a great deal of money. Only Lieutenant Barnaby Willow sees the real Jocelyn, but he must go to Europe to fight the French. The hypocrisy of fashionable society repulses Jocelyn—beneath the courtly manners and studied elegance she finds tittle-tattle, deceit, dissipation and vice.

Jocelyn stumbles upon and then is embroiled in a sordid scandal which will mean utter disgrace for the Talbot family. Humiliated and dishonoured, she is sent to a remote house hidden in a hollow of the Yorkshire moors. There, separated from family, friends and any hope of hearing about the lieutenant’s fate, she must build her own life—and her own social order—anew.

My review

Mrs. Talbot wants that her daughter Jocelyn marries well. Not for her daughter’s happiness, but to eliminate the reminders of how the family gained their wealth.
The Talbots were not part of an ancient lineage or title, but Mr. Talbot gained his money from trade. And the Regency elite doesn’t open their doors to them, and this is not what Mrs. Talbot planned..

Jocelyn meets many young men, but they only see the dowry Jocelyn will provide and they don’t care who Jocelyn truly is.
But it’s not only her search for a husband that haunts her. She also sees the hypocrisy of society and is repulsed by it. And she finds herself suddenly part of a scandal. What will her future hold now that she has been separated from her own family?

I found this a very intriguing, captivating story.
The fact that we are reading two different stories, and each story is again split in different timeline, made me confuse.
Not that I didn’t understand who was talking when, but just that I didn’t get a clue about what was going on. my own imagination came with different options, but the more I read, the more it became obvious that I was wrong.

From the start it’s obvious that Jocelyn is a kind and caring woman. She helps where she can and truly cares about her little brother George, even if he is only her half – brother, she sees him as a “full” brother.
Yet I found her initially a bit naïve. She does not see what is being schemed or going on behind her back.

But I sensed also her determination of standing up for herself and her loved ones. She does whatever she can to protect her friends and family.
Even when Viscount Petrel seems to be too intrusive, she finds a way to get away from him. she also grows during the story, seeing the world how it really is. Yet she does not accept it, but she fights for the right cause.

Not only Jocelyn’s story made sure that I kept reading, but also the style this book has been written. Normally I am not someone to point out the style of a story, but this story demands me to do it.
While I was reading this story, I kept finding it similar like the styles of the Big Classics of English literature.
Everything is very well described. Every house, building, park and even the people were so detailed, I just saw it all in my head.

This story kept me going, wanting to find out what truly happened to Jocelyn and how she find a way out.
I was shocked with the revelations, even a bit disgusted by the behaviour of some people. But there were also silver linings that gave not only the main characters but also the readers hope for a happy ending.