Description
Strong-willed Annabelle Stirling is more than capable of running the family draper shop after the untimely death of her parents. Under her father’s tutelage, she became a talented cloth merchant, while her brother Wesley, the true heir, was busy philandering about Yorkshire. Knowing she must change with the times to survive, Belle installs new machinery that finishes twice the fabric in half the time it takes by hand. But not everyone is so enthusiastic.
Soon, riled up by Belle’s competitors, the outmoded workers seek violent revenge. Her shop destroyed, Belle travels to London to seek redress from Parliament. While there, the Prince Regent, future King George IV, commissions her to provide fabrics for his Royal Pavilion. As Belle’s renown spreads, she meets handsome cabinetmaker Putnam Boyce, but worries that marriage will mean sacrificing her now flourishing shop. And after Wesley plots to kidnap the newly-crowned King–whose indiscretions are surfacing–she finds herself entangled in a duplicitous world of shifting allegiances.
Painting a vivid portrait of life in the British Regency, Christine Trent spins a harrowing tale of ambition, vengeance, love, and complex loyalties against the dynamic backdrop of the early Industrial Revolution.
Praise for the novels of Christine Trent
“Marguerite is a strong heroine, and following her adventures is enjoyable. . .Readers interested in the battle of Trafalgar will find this retelling compelling.” –“Publishers Weekly “on “A Royal Likeness”
“Readers are truly gifted with a wondrous portrait.” –“Romantic Times “on “A Royal Likeness “(4 stars)
“Exuberant, sparkling, beguiling. . .brims with Dickensian gusto!” –Barbara Kyle, author of “The Queen’s Lady “on “The Queen’s Dollmaker”
“Winningly original. . .glittering with atmospheric detail!” –Leslie Carroll, author of “Royal Affairs” on “The Queen’s Dollmaker”
Annabelle Stirling is a cloth merchant in Leeds in Regency Britain who, in her enthusiasm for the industrial revolution, runs afoul of a group of Luddites, one of whom is her fiance and another her brother, Wesley who destroy her new milling machine. When the authorities refuse to help, Belle naively thinks a royal audience will get justice done, and she journeys to London from Yorkshire to present her case at Parliament. The prince regent isn’t much help, but he takes a shine to her, and soon Belle finds a new business mentor in his architect, John Nash, and a romance with a shy young cabinet maker, Putnam Boyce. Belle’s life is complicated considerably, though, by her brother Wesley’s involvement in the treasonous Cato Street Conspiracy (an attempt to murder British cabinet ministers and Lord Liverpool in 1820).
Kensington Publishing Corporation
Fiction
Literary, Fiction
Edition: Historical
Keywords: Literary, Fiction
