Summer, 1841, is marriage season in the county of Wickenshire, and Miss Amelia Ashpoint isn’t sure she can face yet another ball.
But now that she has reached the grand age of three-and-twenty, time is (apparently) running out. Her father is anxious to secure her a husband and has set his sights on Mr Montgomery Hurst of Radcliffe Park.
Only, Mr Hurst has just announced his engagement to somebody else.
To the great consternation of Wickenshire, a community that thrives on gossip, the county’s most eligible bachelor is about to marry not only an unknown stranger – but a widow with three children, odd manners and no ancestry to speak of.
Society is appalled and intrigued.
Meanwhile, Amelia Ashpoint has no interest in marriage at all. But in this town, it is clear that nobody’s business is their own.
And while society has high expectations for Amelia, her heart is drawing her in a very different direction
The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden is published on 18 July, 2024.
Katie writes about the inspiration for her first book in How Victorian literature helped me write my debut novel.
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