After the disappointment of Notorious, I had some hopes for Eloisa James's Born to be Wilde.
Not the first in a series, somewhere in the middle, I think, it's set a bit earlier than Notorious, by some thirty or so years, in 1780.
Born to be Wilde starts with our heroine, Lavinia Gray, being turned down by the hero, Anglo-Indian nabob Parth Sterling. She was desperate, you see: she's just discovered that her mother has spent her dowry (she had been something of an heiress) and stolen various jewels from family and friends to pawn. Oh, and she's addicted to laudanum.
Parth, unable to accept Miss Gray, pledges himself to help her find someone else to marry. A prince, if necessary.
I really don't remember much of this book. I had to go and look it up, having returned my copy to the library before writing this, although doing so hasn't sparked many memories of it. I made some notes, but not enough, I don't think, to write anything of any length about it.
I recall Lavinia turning her hand to assisting Society Ladies with their fashion and fabric choices as a means of making money, and I think ending as some sort of designer. Parth might have owned a fabric factory - or was it just machine-lace he made? I forget. Certainly Lavinia's occupation is different to that of other genteel ladies in reduced circumstances I've read of: normally they become governesses or paid companions. Parth does not approve when he discovers Lavinia's new occupation. But it's all right for him to be engaged in trade, of course.
It was all very tedious, though I did make it to the end. Not nearly enough wittiness from the allegedly witty Miss Gray. Another disappointment.
However, I am currently building a reading-pile for a Heyer-related dissertation, which comforts me enormously, including short stories of hers I've not read before, biographies and novels to reread.
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