Lady for a Season (Regency Outsiders)
In this first installment in the Regency Outsiders series, orphan Maggie is swept from her nursing position in a foundling hospital to serve as a caregiver to Edward, who has been diagnosed as a madman by a private doctor. Edward is shut away in the country so as not to embarrass his aristocratic family, and he slowly bonds with Maggie, who begins to believe Edward is not so much mad as abused by his overbearing father. However, the gentle idyll the two “outsiders” share is shattered when Edward’s father and older brother both die, leaving him the Duke of Buckingham. Edward’s mother, the Dowager Duchess, insists that Edward come to London and find a wife in the course of a single whirlwind social season, but Edward is equally insistent that Maggie stay by his side. When Maggie is transformed into a proper young lady and passed off as a distant cousin, Edward and Maggie’s seemingly doomed romance spans the balls and house parties of the Regency ton.
Addey has obviously done her research into the appalling mental health treatments of the period. However, many will find the novel’s core assumption that it only takes the love of a good woman to cure serious mental health issues simplistic. Readers looking for witty, take-charge characters may grow impatient with both Maggie’s and Edward’s resignation to their respective fates, but those who prefer their romances so sweet as to border on inspirational will thoroughly enjoy this tale.
