The Belles Dames Club
A unmarried Miss—the frivolous Clarissa Wyckenham—does a markedly good deed in helping the dour Lord Alresford out of a vexing predicament. Soon thereafter she arrives in London, only to make the all too shocking discovery that her darling stepmother the Dowager Lady Wyckenham is heavily involved in the running of a risqué club for matrons and widowed ladies. Well, then it’s fairly safe to say life for Clarissa, her stepmother and indeed the sober-minded Lord Alresford, amongst several other personages, will never be truly the same again! The carryings-on of the charmingly named “Belles Dames Club” are certainly highly outrageous, and sure enough Clarissa soon finds herself embroiled in a world of adventure the like of which she has never encountered before.
The style of the whole novel is light, with the emphasis firmly on the humour of the circumstances. It is also true to say the plot zips along, with plenty of subplots involving a host of minor characters, and plenty of action for the reader to become involved in along the way. This Regency, like the antics of the “Belles Dames” themselves, is entertaining in concept and played out for fun.
