Better Than a Duke
Beckett Raines, Marquis of Hentrose, is a widower who needs a wife to help raise his daughter. His new neighbor, Iris Silbern, is a widow who needs a husband to provide financial security for herself and her son. Older members of their respective families have selected what they consider suitable candidates; the children, however, have become fast friends, and they have a better idea. Why don’t their parents marry each other?
The social and economic pressures that stand in the way of the latter solution are formidable, especially since they are applied so unscrupulously. Fortunately, the children manage to enlist the help of loyal servants to implement their plan, but will this suffice to overcome the imbalance of power?
The plot drifts towards farce, and the characters divide sharply between those who care for others and those concerned only with their own autocratic, selfish interests. But though their unconventional attitude is hardly typical of the Regency era, the four central characters are
sympathetic figures, and their willingness to defy convention for a worthy cause is admirable. Especially since their antagonists are so despicable. Recommended.
