False Pretenses
Annabelle, a girl of 18, has no idea who her parents were. When informed that her anonymous guardian has ordered her to marry a much older man she has never met, she runs away from the boarding school that has been her home for most of her life. A desperate need to discover who she is drives her into a hasty marriage with a man she encounters by accident and assumes to be someone he is not. Jealousy and a sense of betrayal mar the amorous attraction she feels for him.
A threat arises as news of her questionable elopement becomes public, prompting Annabelle to flee for a second time in quest for answers about her family, only to find herself still within a labyrinth of pretense. She faces danger and the peril of never having a place in London society. Conflict and wrong assumptions impede her efforts to achieve her goal, but her pluck and dogged persistence at last bring about a disclosure of the truth she has been seeking.
Set in England shortly after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, this story, which brims with details of the stately manors, clothing styles, social customs, expectations, and attitudes of the period, offers romantic escapism. Although at times excess narrative and improbable dialogue distract, the plot makes some intriguing turns and maintains tension. The ingénue protagonist adrift in a world she doesn’t understand gains the maturity and knowledge necessary to take up the reins of her life and find happiness.
