The Heir of Whitestone
Catherine Coulter’s impressive list of novels already includes 12 in the Sherbrooke series, and The Heir of Whitestone builds on that world of Victorian England. But there’s no need to have read the others before jumping into 1842 with handsome young inventor Alex Ivanov and eager Lady Camilla Rohman. Cam defies convention by introducing herself to Alex, and the two quickly discover they are “made for each other.” But which Alex is Cam in love with—the nameless near-victim rescued from drowning in the Thames and given this name Alex by his Sherbrooke rescuer—or the Alex who turns out to be a gentleman’s son, a long-lost earl, discovering his family of origin?
This discovery comes with renewed threats to the handsome man’s new life among his peers. If only her own family didn’t keep distracting Cam, with the menace and insults flung from her father’s young new wife. Cam could have advised Alex (soon to be renamed Graham): Being well-born is no guarantee of happiness or even safety. “I’m a female and until I’m married, I’m only a little pawn on a chessboard,” she concludes. The insight motivates her to be more deeply herself, and to take fresh risks. Will marriage make the two of them safe, after all? Of course, Coulter’s style is also to tactfully let the reader know how much pleasure Cam finds in her new married sexuality, for an interlude of passion before threats to the couple’s lives continue. Yet together they face the dangers, then celebrate the innovations of a newly awakening age of England’s industrial glory.
