When things go wrong, they go wrong on all fronts. Daisy, her sister Wallis, and her mother, Cricket, are reeling from the death of Senator Richardson, their father and husband. As if death wasn’t bad enough, the Senator was having an affair, misusing public money, and they’re broke. Selling the house is a jolt, but the worst part is the adverse publicity that follows the family and makes their lives miserable.
The perfect setting for this story is Washington, DC where scandal is a way of life and political shaming takes a toll of many careers. Like the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility the Richardson women find their lives being shaped by their men. Also, like the Dashwood sisters, they find that they can take charge of their futures and win.
I thought the story was well done. The characters are complex and well drawn. Daisy is talented and strong basically holding the family together in a crisis, although she too suffers. The setting was well done and a perfect background for the family’s struggles.
I’m not sure I enjoy the retelling of famous stories. So much of the charm of Jane Austen’s works are the melding of her characters with the social moires of the time. The author tries to achieve this in the present book, but for me it didn’t work that well. I think I could have enjoyed the story more without the undertone of Austen’s much better work.
I received this book from Harlequin for this review.
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