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| Graphics by Sharlene |
We're premiering a new feature at the Romance Dish today. Sometimes we miss a book - or an author - the first time around. There are so many books published each month and, let's face it, there just aren't enough hours - or dollars - to read them all so some never make it onto our reader radar. Occasionally, a company will reissue a previously published book. Also, with the growing popularity of e-books, many authors have regained the rights to their traditionally published books and are giving them a second chance on the digital platform. All of this gives readers a second chance to discover a wonderful story they may have missed. On the 15th of each month, Janga will be bringing us a review of one of those reissued books and, hopefully, giving you the opportunity to discover a wonderful new book that you may have missed when it was first released or remind you of the reasons you enjoyed reading it the first time around. We hope you'll join us the 15th of each month for On Second Thought!
In for a Penny
By Rose Lerner
Publisher: Samhain
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Nathaniel Ambrey, Viscount Nevinstoke, is an amiable young
man who enjoys his life of merrymaking with his friends and his beautiful
mistress. He lives strictly for the moment with no thought of tomorrow beyond
what amusement the day may bring. That changes when his father is killed in a
foolish duel and Nev is forced to deal with the results of a lifetime of excess
and thoughtlessness. Nev becomes the
Earl of Bedlow with an estate that has been neglected and exploited and a
burden of debt so heavy that even selling his town house, his mother’s jewels,
and everything else that is unentailed hardly makes a dent in what he owes.
When his sister, Louisa, offers to marry a wealthy merchant, Nev assures her
that such a sacrifice is unnecessary, but Louisa’s suggestion reminds him that
he met and liked the daughter of a wealthy brewer. She just might be the
solution to his problem.
Penelope Brown has no interest in a titled husband. Her
memories of the slights and mockery she endured at the hands of her
aristocratic schoolmates are still fresh, and she has no illusions about how
she and her mother are regarded when they attend social events hosted by the
few former schoolmates who remember Penny. When she thinks of marriage, it is
an ambitious young man of her own class whom she sees as her husband. Thus,
Penny surprises even herself when she accepts Nev’s proposal, even though he makes
no secret of the fact that his offer is prompted solely by his desperate need
for her dowry.
Neither Nev nor Penny is prepared for all the problems that
await them at Loweston, his country seat. The estate and its tenants are even
more impoverished that Nev expected, and he has no idea how to deal with the
poverty or the simmering resentment. With much of Penny’s money tied up for
their children, the funds they have are insufficient for all that needs to be
done. An incompetent steward and a vicar who is the very worst sort of pompous,
self-righteous fool with no understanding of Christian charity further
complicate matters, as does a neighbor who
is willing to go to extremes to control the workers who he is convinced are
poised for revolution.
On the personal front, things are not much better. Nev and
Penny, despite their differences, genuinely like one another, and that liking
develops into warmer feelings. But they are very young (Penny is nineteen; Nev
is twenty-three), and they are plagued with insecurities. Penny cannot forget
that she is not a true lady, the kind of wife Nev should have, and just in case
she should forget for a moment, his mother is there to bemoan the unsuitability
and low origins of Nev’s wife. Convinced that the only thing she has to
contribute is her money and the knowledge of bookkeeping she has learned from
her father’s business, Penny is unwilling to be open about her feelings.
Nev is just as reticent. He feels that he is a failure who
has to depend on his wife’s money and cleverness to accomplish anything. He
believes Penny deserves a better husband. They are each too determined to
protect their vulnerabilities to build on the things they do have in common
such as a sense of humor and a love of music or to comprehend that Penny’s
understanding of economic principles and Nev’s people skills are actually
complementary. Their marriage and their
very lives will be endangered before they share their feelings and claim the
happiness they deserve.
Penny and Nev are both wonderful, richly developed characters
who struggle and grow during the course of the story. From the beginning, they
are individuals who act against type. Romance fiction is filled with
aristocrats who court the daughters of wealthy cits or who, at least initially,
resent the merchant class heiresses they are forced to marry, often while
imagining themselves in love with some more suitable beauty. But Nev never
pretends to be anything other than what he is, an inept lord who seeks to marry
wealth in order to save his estate and his family. He is grateful to Penny and
protective of her dignity, and he quickly comes to appreciate her intelligence,
kindness, and strength. He never makes false promises, telling her only that he
expects they “could rub along tolerably well together.”
Although Penny admittedly enjoys Nev’s kisses from the first
one they share, she never sees him as a romanticized, impossibly handsome
figure whom she loved at first sight. She views him as “a perfectly
ordinary-looking young man” of “middling height” with hair that is “merely
brown” and eyes that are “an ordinary blue, of an ordinary shape and size.”
There is something distinctly Austenesque in her response to Nev’s proposal: “
I see no reason why two people of good sense and amiable dispositions should
not find a tolerable measure of conjugal felicity, even if they are not,
perhaps, united by those bonds of affection and familiarity which one might
wish.” Even their lack of communication, which might be irritating in more
conventional characters, is believable and forgivable in light of their youth
and their particular situation.
The secondary characters are also well developed, and each
serves a purpose. I especially liked Penny’s parents, who, far from plotting to
see their daughter marry a title, express concern when she accepts Nev. They
love their daughter, and their primary concern is her happiness. Her father
goes so far as to assure her at the wedding that if Nev makes her unhappy,
divorce is an option, regardless of the scandal and expense. Nev’s initial
meeting with the Browns is one of the most delightful scenes in the novel, and
it is fitting that mutual affection develops between Nev and his in-laws.
When I first read In for a Penny five years ago, I knew it
was an extraordinary debut book in its depth of characterization, its attention
to historical detail, and its engaging story. Penny and Nev were characters I
knew I would revisit, and Rose Lerner was an author I knew I would recommend to
friends. Each rereading has strengthened that opinion and my appreciation for
this gem of a book. I give it my highest recommendation. And if, after you have
read it, you need an audience for your raves, I’m available. I always enjoy
having my status as a discerning reader affirmed.
~Janga
Have you read In for a Penny or any of Rose Lerner's other books?
What books or authors have you discovered through a reissue?
What books do you enjoy revisiting?
One person who leaves a comment on today's post will receive a Nook or Kindle (winner's choice) copy of In for a Penny.
Have you read In for a Penny or any of Rose Lerner's other books?
What books or authors have you discovered through a reissue?
What books do you enjoy revisiting?
One person who leaves a comment on today's post will receive a Nook or Kindle (winner's choice) copy of In for a Penny.
