Book Description

Fans of Louise Douglas, Dinah Jefferies and Bridgerton will love this wonderfully evocative and enthralling romantic saga by the million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham. "Charlotte Bingham...always tells a rattling good story...Pure escapism!" - Woman and Home "A big wallowy delicious read" - THE TIMES "I couldn't put it down - it is such compulsive stuff that when I finished it I couldn't wait to start it again" -- ***** Reader review "Fabulous reading" - ***** Reader review "Wonderfully clever and witty" -- ***** Reader review ******************************************************************************** THE ULTIMATE BATTLE FOR POWER, PRIVILEGE AND MONEY... London in the 1890s: nicely brought-up girls focus on one thing and one thing alone: marriage. The Season in London and, the ultimate goal, Coming Out as a debutante are therefore vital in leading them along this path. But along the way they have to survive a terrifying few months, a make-or-break time in which their family's hopes for them can only be fulfilled through a proposal. For Lady Emily Persse, Coming Out means leaving her beloved Ireland and its informalities for England and its stricter codes. For Portia Tradescant, released from the boredom of life in the English countryside, it means trying to get through the Season despite the best efforts of her eccentric Aunt Tattie. For beautiful May Danby, the Season is an entrée to a whole other life, worlds away from her strict convent upbringing in Yorkshire. A London Season is not just about the debutantes themselves. It is as much about the women who launch them, and the Society which supports their way of life. It is also about the battle for power, privilege and money, fought, not in the male tradition upon the battlefield, but in the female tradition...in the ballroom.