The Duchess War, while listed as Book 1 in a series, is actually a sequel to the novella The Governess Affair. This novel picks up almost 30 years after the events of the novella and focuses on the next generation of characters. As with The Governess Affair, author Courtney Milan does a wonderful job of putting the reader in a specific historical period and includes fascinating information about the social and economic situation of the time, in this case, 1863 industrial England. I am officially hooked on Milan and The Brothers Sinister series.
The action for this novel takes place in Leicester, an industrial town that would generally not attract the attention of London society. Yet it has drawn in Robert Blaisdell, the young and handsome Ninth Duke of Clermont, who happens to be a powerful Lord in Parliament as well as a factory owner. While hiding in the library at a local assembly, he espies Wilhelmina “Minnie” Pursling, a young woman also hiding in the library from her fiancé. Minnie is not a conventional beauty but there is something about her that Robert finds fascinating. And both of them clearly have secrets, otherwise why would they each be hiding in the library?
The romance between Robert and Minnie unfolds against the backdrop of the workers’ rights movement and the threat it poses to local authority. Captain Stevens, the head of the militia, is concerned about leaflets that appear on the streets urging workers to organize; he has reason to believe that Minnie is not who she says she is and that she is involved in stirring up trouble amongst workers. Courtney Milan slowly teases out Minnie’s past, her need for the protection of a marriage, any marriage, and her fear of crowds and being seen. Robert can see that Minnie works hard to make herself small and unworthy of notice, but he also sees that she is a fascinating and intelligent woman; he is irresistibly drawn to her while she, for her part, puts Robert on notice that she understands his reasons for being in Leicester. She has figured out his secret (in part) while Robert finds himself confounded by Minnie at every turn.
At the heart of this novel is the question of what makes a family and the impact that early family relationships have on us as adults. What happens to a child raised to lie about their identity? What happens to a child whose parents hate each other and use the child as a pawn in their battles? How would betrayal and a lack of nurturing influence one’s ability to trust and love as an adult? As with The Governess Affair, Milan takes these real life struggles and traumas and incorporates them respectfully and naturally into her character development and plot. And, of course, there are some steamy sexy bits which are fun to read. I’m going to try to pace my reading of this series because it is so entertaining, a nice mix of fact, fun, and thoughtful reflection on real human issues.
