Forever and a Day

What begins as a straightforward retelling of The Prince and the Pauper becomes a mishmash of bewildering strands that never really get woven together. Georgia Milton, a young and pretty widow, lives in the notorious Five Points neighborhood in 1830 New York City. The sassy laundress is under the protection of the notorious Forty Thieves and dreams of moving out west. Then she meets Roderick Gideon Tremayne, the duke of Wentworth. When he loses his memory after being hit by an omnibus, he thinks he’s Robinson Crusoe. Georgia takes care of him while the doctor tries to find Tremayne’s family, and as she teaches him how to live as a poor person, they fall in love. Despite having amnesia, Roderick remembers certain things about being wealthy, and his bewildered reaction to Georgia’s desperate conditions is the only high point of this meandering, overcomplicated romance. Agent: Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Jan.)