Jane Ellsworth
is now married to professional glamorist David Vincent and
staying in London, creating illusions together. One of these
is a grand one for the Prince Regent himself, which so impresses
him that the pair soon find themselves off to Belgium. Vincent
is thrilled to stay with a famous glamorist and his family,
but Jane is soon pregnant, and expectant women cannot work
glamor. Things take a turn for the worse when Napoleon is
on the march again, and Jane is going to need all her powers
as well as her wits about her?
If the first in the series evoked Jane Austen, this second
entry in the series is cut from a different cloth. Now the
lovers are married, it is not exactly a romance, more a historical
adventure with the addition of glamor. There is a great deal
about the technical working of glamor, and also the real figure
of Napoleon, on his way after escaping from Elba. Jane gets
to find what married life is like and much of the story is
about this. She must get used to being an artisan rather than
a gentlewoman as well as being pregnant and being in her husband’s
shadow. For an adventure most of the novel is rather slow,
and it is not really until the end that events pick up and
become exciting rather than merely domestic. I found that
there could have been more in the story and concluded that
Ms Kowal is better at writing romances than adventures, although
among the book’s undoubted strengths are the language
and Jane’s viewpoint. The author’s research shows
through, giving the book a real period feel despite the fantasy.
Whereas most romances stop with happily ever after, this one
shows what happens after all that. I would be interested to
see where the series goes next.
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