Suddenly the Housekeeper of an upper-class London home in a period of unmatched upheaval, Tess Newman is determined to draw on her practical nature to see her way through. What she does not know is that yet more tragedy lays upon the horizon, which will test her fortitude to its extremes.
Zelda Rhodes
There are two Zeldas: The public-facing academic, known for her depth of knowledge, fierce independence, and dedication to feminism; and the meticulously-private sexual “deviant” who would rather spend her free time at a masked bacchanal than pursue the more traditional forms of romance. Sharp, confident and more than a little stubborn, she’s never felt the need to reconcile these two parts of her identity, nor to prove the worth of either. To know her is to love her, but good luck in getting to know her, or in getting her to acknowledge more than friendship.
Tansy Robarts
The daughter of a wealthy gentry banker and bright in every sense of the word, Tansy skewered her own reputation to save her younger sister’s and embarked upon a chapter she never could have fathomed. After traveling the world as a companion and being encouraged toward independent thinking, she finds herself now back in the mire of polite society. Well over the bridge into spinsterhood, her family refuses to allow her to live alone. Is the answer to find a man desperate enough to marry her, remain with her parents, or some other, less-obvious option?
Philippa Carrington
The lucky bride in a love match that lasted over ten years, Philippa now finds herself a single mother to two girls and adrift without the steadying influence of her husband. The strictures of society and reality of their circumstances have placed her and her girls back in London, where Pippa will try to find her footing and discover herself anew.
Hepzibah Innes-Ker
A bluestocking through and through, Her Grace the Duchess of Roxburghe is considered an eccentric by some, and a disgrace by others. Married to her father’s best friend, who rescued her from a life of obscurity and destitution, she’s never had a lover of any kind, including the man she married. He wishes she would find one, thinks it would make her happy in a way Eppie has never fathomed, but with talents that lie more in the realm of science and medicine than social savvy, it remains to be seen if she shall ever catch the eye of someone she can care about in turn.