Date Published: 7 September 2021
Publisher: Alcove Press
England, 1931
Astra Davies finds herself in rather a tight spot when her parents die suddenly, leaving her with a heap of debts and damaging family secrets to sort out. Unwilling to enter a loveless marriage with a wealthy suitor, she instead makes the audacious decision to make her own way in the world.
But the road to financial independence is a rocky one, fraught with hazards and heartbreaking choices. A brainless business partner threatens to ruin both her reputation and their company. Family mysteries and startling discoveries make her question her parents’ motives and her relationship with them. And when she catches the eye of the extremely eligible (and rather poor) Earl of Dunreaven, Astra winds up directly in the crosshairs of her longtime nemesis: the wealthy, influential Lady Millicent, who’s now hell bent on bringing her down for good.
Astra will have to dig deep and call on strength and skills she never knew she had if she’s going to prove to herself and the world that she is more than just a pretty Bright Young Thing.
“Why don’t we have a game of
bridge?” Joyce suggested when the gentlemen joined the ladies in the drawing
room after dinner. “Who’ll play?”
There were too many volunteers,
so we drew cards to see who would play first, and I came up the loser.
“Bad
luck, Astra,” Millicent smirked, taking her seat opposite Dunreaven.
“No
matter,” I said airily.
“Lucky
for us, though,” said Cecilia. “Won’t you play for us, Astra?”
“If you
insist.” I seated myself at the piano and launched into a song.
“What is
that?” Millicent asked a few moments in, her voice thick with disgust.
“Gershwin,”
Dunreaven answered for me. “Isn’t that right?”
I
nodded.
“Gershwin?”
Millicent rolled her eyes. “Is that noise all we have to offer the world now?
What will our descendants think when they look back on what we call culture?
Where is our Mozart? Our Chopin? Can’t you play something civilized, Astra?
This isn’t a jazz club, you know.”
If it
were, I’ d be getting paid for providing the entertainment, I thought acidly, but I obediently
segued into my favorite Mahler nocturne.
“That’s
a bit better,” Millicent condescended.
Dunreaven,
now playing as the dummy, set his cards down. He strolled over to the piano and
leaned gracefully against it.
“Astra
Davies,” he murmured.
“Lord
Dunreaven,” I returned without pausing in my playing.
“It’s
been a long time. I hardly recognized you without your braids.”
“Well,
little girls have a tendency to grow up. And we get rid of the braids because
little boys tug on them.”
He
laughed. “Surely I never did that!”
“You
surely did. And you kidnapped Cecilia’s doll once and made her cry. Cee, not
the doll. You and David held her for ransom in some pirate game. The doll, not
Cee.”
“What an
awful little boy,” he murmured. “I feel like I should do penance.”
“You
should. Fifteen tea parties and maybe we’ll call it even.”
He
chuckled. “I’d rather something more grown up. Perhaps some dances?”
“I’m
sure Cecilia would be delighted. But you’d have to ask her.” I changed to a
light waltz with a cheeky smile.
His eyes
(green, I noticed, with amber flecks) flashed momentarily, and he grinned. “So,
what else has changed, aside from your hair?”
“So many
things.”
“Fortunately,
we have all weekend for you to tell me.”
“Don’t
you have some birds to shoot?” I asked. “And there are other guests here I may
want to spend time talking to.”
His eyes
moved toward Beckworth, deep in a conversation about fishing with Cee and Lord
Caddonfoot. “You’re right, that was presumptuous of me,” Dunreaven agreed.
“I’ll have to work for your attention, then.”
“Anything
worth having takes a little effort.”
His
smile widened, and I very nearly missed a note. “And you think your full
attention is worth the effort?”
“Don’t
you?”
“Fishing
for a compliment?”
“Like I
said at dinner, I don’t fish.”
“You
know,” he said warmly, “when Joyce and Cecilia talked you up, I thought they
must be exaggerating, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“I’m
sure that’s not true,” I said, laughing. “What did they say?”
“Quite a
lot about your dazzling wit and charm.”
“Doesn’t
sound like Joyce. Must have been Cee.”
He
shrugged. “It’s possible I’m embellishing from my own observations.”
“You’re
too kind, Lord Dunreaven. I’ll end up being a disappointment.”
“A
disappointment? You could never be a disappointment!” Cecilia cried, plopping
down on the bench next to me. “She’s lovely and clever, isn’t she, Jeremy?”
“Don’t
force him, Cee—it’s not fair,” I protested.
“I can
assure you, I don’t need to be forced,” Dunreaven replied.
“Jeremy,
we need you back!” Millicent shrilled.
“I think
I’ll step out, if you don’t mind,” he replied. “Mr. Porter, would you care to
take my place?”
“Then
Astra can take mine,” Millicent said, slapping her cards down on the table. “It
was a terrible hand, that. Dunny, do be a gentleman and make me forget all
about it.”
About the Author
She moved to the glorious, history-soaked city of Edinburgh nearly 10 years ago and felt like she'd finally come home. She now lives by the sea in an East Lothian town with its very own castle with her husband, sons, and bulldog, Isla.
Her debut novel, All Stirred Up, was published by Alcove Press in 2020.
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