The one duty required of Emily as a Victorian woman is to marry and marry well. She wants nothing to do with marriage. Then, she meets Phillip, the Viscount Ashton, a single-minded hunter, who proposes marriage and Emily sees that she can escape her nagging, controlling mother. Right after their wedding and honeymoon, Phillip leaves for Africa where he dies of a fever. Now, Emily is an independent woman, and as a widow can do things she never could as a single young woman. When she discovers Philip's journals nearly two years later, she discovers a very different man than whom she thought Philip was --a scholar, a collector of antiquities and a man who loved his wife passionately. As Emily delves deeper into the mystery of her husband, she uncovers danger wherever she goes and juggling the attentions of two powerful suitors, one of whom my be the source of great trouble just complicates everything.
Always fascinated with history, I love reading historical mysteries, what I usually hate about them is that the heroine is always a modern 20th century woman dropped into an historical setting. Alexander's protagonist, Emily, is a real turn of the century character. She matures in emotion, academics, individualism and strength, from a woman whose life has been dictated by her mother, societal norms, and briefly her husband. She emerges a stronger, albeit flawed, Victorian woman very capable of handling herself and the mysteries that surround her.
Originally published 10/14/2011
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