Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Secrets of a Lady
Author: Tracy Grant
Publisher: AVON, an imprint of HarperCollins
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-128488-5
Release Date: July 2007
Genre/Sub-genre: Historical Fiction
Year/Setting: Regency London
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: None/Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None/Minimal
Tracy's Website:
www.tracygrant.org
I love this time period. The wonderful descriptions of Regency London with the costumes, the balls, the residences of the nobility – this is definitely my kind of book. Reputations can be ruined by one bad turn of phrase in this town. Gossip is the defining factor in these people’s lives and nobody is safe from it.
Mèlanie Fraser is the perfect wife of Charles Fraser; a nobleman who works in Parliament who everyone looks up to and admires. She is the most charming hostess that London has seen in years – a perfect complement to her dashing and intelligent mate. However, Mrs. Fraser has been holding on to a secret that could not only have her arrested, but it could destroy everything her husband has worked for all his life.
In the beginning of the novel, the Fraser’s son is kidnapped from the house. The kidnappers wish to trade the boy’s life for an extremely powerful ring that, legend has it, can literally turn the tides of war. We are brought back to the past where Mrs. Fraser first met her husband. He was an English officer sent to bargain for the ring years earlier. On his quest, he stumbled across Mrs. Fraser in the woods – she was pregnant – and he not only rescues her but marries her, and gives her a father for her illegitimate son.
There are many secrets in the past – where Mr. and Mrs. Fraser both hoped they would remain for all eternity. But with the kidnapping of their son, the past comes back to haunt them. We are taken along for the ride as a web of lies is revealed in order to save their boy. The writer is so good with her characters that the reader never really wants to turn away from Mrs. Fraser. She is written so well, with so much determination and confidence, that you find yourself offering a full pardon for the sins she committed. Also, the writer pulls out secrets from her husband as well, making the noble man fall off his perfect pedestal and land beside his wife. Charles never "lords over" Mèlanie, and he certainly has the right to do so for much of the book. Yet you never find him prideful or malicious – only forgiving and kind.
Read this. It is pure decadence, love, intrigue – everything you could want. Enjoy!
Amy
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