Anyway, the author mentions Burke’s – she could have looked it all up there. It’s not difficult to research in these days of almost total internet, especially not when one is researching a real person for the book anyway.

The wife of a duke is never addressed as Lady anything – she’s the Duchess of whatever, or her/your Grace, unless she’s stated that she wants her companions to use her forename or nickname. Firstly, and I’ve ranted about this before, when writing about the British (or any other nationality’s) nobility, it’s essential to get the titles and forms of address correct. Sadly, the book fails on so very many other counts. The various stories wound around each other and kept me in the dark as to what was real for the characters and what was fictional, even within their world, right up to the end.

There are multiple layers of story in this book: Annie’s quest to learn about her parentage and about the mysterious woman whose biography she starts reading when she finds herself staying close to where it was written the story of the woman who may or may not have been the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, the former Gladys Deacon the story of how that book came to be written and what happened to its writer afterwards. Nonetheless, I gave it every possible chance to overcome my reservations, and it mostly succeeded on the second count, at least. This book’s blurbs (and there seem to be a multitude of different ones online), gave no indication that it was either, when in fact it turned out to be both. Women’s Historical Fiction published by Thomas Dunne Books 09 Feb 16Īfter my last experience with the subgenres, I’d vowed to stay away from both romances featuring writers and books with a story-within-a-story for a while. Stevie‘s review of I’ll See You in Paris by Michelle Gable

I'll See You in Paris by Michelle Gable