An Indiscreet Debutante

Miss Charlotte Vale holds her tongue in polite society if it means she can further promote her school, which educates lower-class ladies in the art of catching respectable husbands to improve their lives. Sir Ian Heald challenges her bravado by insisting she help him locate a student who is blackmailing his family with a scandalous secret. Ian, a product of tightening Victorian morals, is reluctantly drawn to Charlotte, who seduces him in an effort to remove herself from the marriage mart. Brown (Wayward One) refreshingly offers readers a complex heroine, heartbreakingly self-aware of a future that may be defined by her possible inheritance of her mother’s mental illness. She longs for an intimate connection with Ian, but cannot commit to a relationship or children given her fears. Brown brings a contemporary erotic flair to the Victorian bedroom, creating an intriguing and alluring caper with serious overtones. (May)