A Duke in Disguise: The Regency Impostors
Verity Plum and her brother Nate publish radical pamphlets that are dangerously critical of the English government. Their close friend Ash is an engraver who sometimes provides illustrations. When Ash comes to live with them and Nate leaves for America, however, friendship blossoms into passionate love that has long been repressed. But will it survive the discovery that Ash is not an orphan of unknown parents, but the rightful heir of a dying duke?
This is an unusual Regency romance. Atypically, the protagonists are from the working class, and their pamphlets scathing towards the aristocracy to which Ash is unexpectedly elevated; Verity not only abhors the aristocracy but is non-binary in her previous love affair; Ash is epileptic. While the novel offers fascinating insights into the publishing industry of the day, notably links between production of radical and erotic material, it also includes such romance conventions as the wicked uncle, fortunate coincidences, and an implausibly happy ending. The author steers us through this unlikely combination with her usual exuberance. Verity is delightfully independent and ruefully self-aware, Ash honorable and sympathetic: both deserve the happy outcome of the conflict between love and principles. Warmly recommended.
