Celia Mardham's first London Season should have been a great success, but a near fatal riding accident has left her with a pronounced limp which means she cannot even curtsy, let alone dance.


Condemned it seems to spinsterhood, her mother Lady Mardham makes one last effort. She draws up a list of guests for a country house party, picking only young ladies who will not be rivals, as well as some potential suitors.


Among the gentlemen is Lord Levedale and when he meets Celia he sees her, not the limp. However, a number of accidents, misunderstandings and spiteful interventions litter the path ahead, and may succeed in driving them apart for good.

Sophia Holloway read Modern History at Oxford and also writes the Bradecote and Catchpoll medieval mysteries as Sarah Hawkswood.