A DUKE, THE LADY, AND A BABY by Vanessa Riley
I went in expecting Regency Three Men and a Baby meets First Wives Club and excited to read a historical about a West Indian heiress, but was surprised to find Gothic notes joining the anticipated lilting banter and levity. Presumptive ghosts, the creeping villainy of a greedy uncle, and a convoluted mystery are juxtaposed with the silliness of well-meaning but clueless caretaking from a military man turned guardian & the poignancy of a desperate mother's battle to reclaim her son.
As a conflicted Brontë fan, I found it fascinating to note that the story also builds on many of the same elements in Jane Eyre (and in Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea), but transmutes them to not only center its West Indian heiress, but celebrate her agency, unambiguously highlight that any madness is in the misogynistic, racist culture not in her, and deliver to her a well deserved HEA.
Unlike Brontë's Bertha, by the time we meet our heroine Patience, she’s already escaped an Englishman's attempts to lock her up and label her mad. She's realized that following rules only serves to enforce a status quo that’s robbed her of her freedom, her money and her son, and she's taking risks to secure the life she wants. Her strength, competence, and sharp wit shine, while the intimacy of her 1st person POV feels both effective and purposeful given the long history of othering mixed race characters in literature.
But despite having more or less imprinted on Captain Von Trapp, I found the hero Busick's authoritarian tendencies hard to warm up to and the switches to a 3rd person POV disorienting. My sense of him was muddled. For a strategist, he seemed obtuse and for a rake, rigid--reliant more on bluster than charm. He accepts the ability and value of disabled soldiers, even creating a regiment of them, but goes to extraordinary lengths to hide his own. He's devoted to protecting Lionel and Patience, but puts them in danger to "win" a point. When the story screams for a good grovel, he sulks. Ultimately, I was left with the sense that not only didn’t he deserve Patience (forgivable), but that he didn’t know it (not).
On balance, there's far to more to like than not, and I'm eager for the next story of the remarkable members of the Widow's Grace.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫
CW: discussion of suicide, non-consensual drug use, extortion, murder, forced psychiatric commitment, child abuse/neglect, racism, sexual harassment
Disclosure: An eARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
