by Mary Balogh
Part of Westcott, book 2
First published 2017
Camille Westcott's world crumbles when her father's death reveals a devastating secret. The Earl of Riverdale's marriage was bigamous, making Camille illegitimate overnight. Stripped of her title and inheritance, she flees London's scandal to teach at a Bath orphanage where her half-sister once lived. The position offers anonymity, but Camille cannot escape her past entirely. Her grandmother commissions a portrait, forcing Camille to sit for Joel Cunningham, an art instructor at the same orphanage. Joel once called this institution home himself, and he bristles at what he sees as Camille's aristocratic airs. She finds him insufferably presumptuous. Yet as the portrait sessions continue, their antagonism shifts into something neither expected. Camille discovers that reinventing herself requires more than changing her circumstances. Joel sees past her former privilege to the woman struggling to find her place. Their growing attraction becomes a lifeline when new troubles threaten the fragile stability Camille has built.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, adult-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Bath, London
Period: 19th-century
401 pages · Kindle Edition · Piatkus