Thursday, November 2, 2017

Friendship and an Escape to Regency England

Mary Davies, a talented design engineer, works at WATTS, a high tech company in which she was one of the first employees. She loves her job, but her current project, Golightly, is not going well and Mary can’t seem to involve others in giving her help.

A very attractive management consultant, Nathan, tries to help her through the difficulty. He’s obviously interested in her, but Mary can’t let him in. In fact, she pushes him away although she’d like nothing better than to chase him.

With her job going sour, Isabel, Mary’s childhood friend, invites her to a two week trip to England to stay in a gorgeous Regency estate for a Jane Austen costume party. Each person will adopt a character from Austen and dress the part of a Regency lady or gentleman for the week.

Mary doesn’t want to go, but her father, who considers Isabel a second daughter, convinces her that Isabel needs her and she needs to get away. As the week progresses, Mary realizes in a frightening way how correct he was.

This is a lovely book. The start is rather slow, introducing us to Mary and her work problems, but when the two girls get to Bath, the action picks up. The descriptions of the house, Braithwaite, the grounds, and the wardrobes for the girls are delicious. They make you want to take the same holiday.

The characters, particularly Mary, Isabel and Nathan, are very well done. You may not like Isabel all the time, but her character is perfect for her difficult childhood. The other guests staying at the house are wonderful, particularly the child, Clara, and Helene, on a holiday with her much loved eighty-year-old husband. As the characters play their roles in the Austen party, they learn about themselves and become more accepting of each other.

I highly recommend this book, particularly if you’re an Austen Fan.


I received this book from BookLook Bloggers for this review.   

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