About This Series
The Marriage of True Minds is the first novel in the series about the English upper-class during the reign of George III in 18th century England, just before the American Revolution. In the Polite Society of this period, an aristocrat had one duty above all others—produce a male heir to perpetuate the family’s title. Geoffrey, the 3rd Earl of Stoneleigh, and his wife, Anne, are a love match—she being the daughter of a knighted merchant and he being the sole heir to an earldom. To the consternation of the Dowager Lady Stoneleigh, her son has yet to produce a male heir—five daughters! are the only evidence of his happy marriage. The dowager’s own complicated romance with Lord Wortham adds humor to the narrative and intrigue around her dead husband’s past. Add a pair of youthful thwarted lovers to the plot—all played out against the backdrop of the London Season with its whirl of fancy soirées and elaborate balls in authentic historical settings—and you have endless complications that carry over into the next two books.
In the second book, Love Is All Truth, a pall hangs over Harcroft Hall—a tragedy has occurred, and Geoffrey’s title, 3rd Earl of Stoneleigh, is under threat with the discovery of an older brother. Into this sad setting, Anne’s brother John brings a breath of fresh air to lighten the narrative, as he stumbles through the London Season looking for a wife. Lady Joanna, Geoffrey and Anne’s eldest daughter, forms a most unsuitable attachment to a dashing captain, and, lo and behold! a shipwreck alters all their fates.
In the third book, The Course of True Love…never did run smooth is too true. Lady Joanna, making her London debut, is besieged by suitors—the Duke of Norfolk’s heir the most persistent; the absent Captain Hardwick, fighting in France; and her newly found cousin, Harry Church, introduced in the second book, who adds a compelling and endearing presence. The narrative also includes Lord and Lady Wortham, very much in love, offering sage advice to the younger set, especially to Lord and Lady Lynnhurst. But the underlying question—will Geoffrey and Anne produce an heir—hums through the narrative like a coda to the series.
