2023 Regency fantasy romance. Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her
clothing disintegrating at a ball in Bath; she is rescued by
Georgiana, the scandalous "Duke of Annadale", whose father and three
brothers died in quick succession (obviously by her witchcraft)
leaving her in possession of the family's wealth. But curses are not
so easily thwarted.
Also the whole thing is narrated by Robin Goodfellow, who's
hanging around for reasons of his own. For this is a Regency with the
old gods very much present, including Sulis Minerva in the sacred well
under the Assembly Rooms.
She had already recounted this story to her parents, but since her
father was mostly interested in things that could be detonated or
electrified and her mother was mostly interested in things that
could be dissected, they had taken the news remarkably well.
It's a book of two halves: the first deals with Maelys and her friends
trying to track down the source of the curse and take steps to prevent
it from getting worse, until the source of it becomes manifest and
matters come to a head. That done, Maelys tries to develop what might
become a relationship with Georgiana, but it turns out that there a
several reasons Georgiana was so reluctant to get involved (while
clearly interested). The ending is practically fairy-tale, with an
array of impossible tasks for Maelys to perform if she's to salvage
anything from (and indeed of) the affair.
Miss Bickle […] beamed. "You should probably discuss the fact that
you're desperately in love with each other."
"We are not," Miss Mitchelmore and the Duke of Annadale said
together.
"Then why do you keep rescuing her?" asked Miss Bickle, as
though she were playing a trump at whist.
A little more self-consciously than she perhaps intended, the Duke
of Annadale developed a sudden interest in the passing scenery.
"Ennui?"
This is not a "mannered" Regency: mollys are present (and some of them
even helpful), and there is rough language and some on-page sex
(though not to the extent of most modern romances). It's also strongly
feminist in a variety of small ways—or perhaps I might even say
intersectional, because one of the themes is certainly the abuse of
power, with men abusing their power over women simply one
manifestition of that principle.
In spite of all that seriousness, though, it manages to be enjoyable,
which if one is not composing a tract seems to me the best way to do
things. One of my favourite people here is Miss Bickle, one of Maelys'
friends, who has spent too much time with the Circulating Libraries
and sees life as a romantic adventure.
"And," added Miss Bickle, "he is a clergyman, and clergymen are
notoriously weak-willed and subject to temptation. Look at Father
Jerome. Or Ambrosio."
Miss Mitchelmore shook her head. "Lizzie, you really need to read
more appropriate books."
"You say that, but at least I shall know what to do if a monk with a
magical myrtle bough attempts to ravish me."