Great read - despite the odd title...
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If you've read the two previous Diana Norman books in this series (A Catch of Consequence and Taking Liberties) then this is a must. While not a trilogy, the three books do follow in sequence and have some of the same characters, but unlike many series (in my opinion) the author hasn't got stuck into a rut, and doesn't simply churn out the same story with different names.
We're now in the late C18th during the French revolution: Makepeace Hedley, the 'heroine' of the two other books is widowed and in London and ends up running a theatre company for her brother while pursuing her hatred of slavery. But the centre of the book is built on Philippa, her daughter, now in her mid-twenties and suffering from unrequited love for Andrew Ffoulkes (a child in the first book) and so settling for marriage with a well-meaning but chilly reformer. She ends up in Paris to help smuggle out a one-time revolutionary who has now become the victim of the Terror and finds her life transformed in all kinds of ways.
Norman writes excellent historical fiction built around characters rather than polemic. While she sets her stories against a background of politics (The American revolution, slavery, the growth of industrialism, womens' rights, the French revolution) they are background and never eclipse the heart of the tale which always revolve around the people. Her characters are alive, flawed, frequently struggling and yet wonderfully endearing; her dialogue is flowing and realistic and often very funny in a dry witty way; and their relationships real. No-one is ever a hero or heroine because no-one is that perfect and the books are all the better for it. Norman I think is an underestimated writer and far far better than Philippa Gregory in my opinion.
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