Lady Fortescue to the Rescue / Miss Tonks Takes Flight (Book 1)

"Irresistible!" Elle "A delight." Le Parisien "If you like Bridgerton, you'll love Bond Street Chronicles!"

Elle What do impoverished aristocrats do to maintain their standing in 19th-century London? They open a hotel! Despite her rank, Lady Fortescue, a seventy-year-old widow, has no income or inheritance to live respectably.

Tired of depending on family charity, she nonetheless refuses to part with her large, dilapidated Bond Street mansion and her servants, whom she hasn't paid in a long time...

Then, the crazy idea arises to join forces with other unfortunates and turn her house into a hotel.

Overnight, "The Pauper's Arms" becomes the most chic and renowned place in London. But her nephew, the Duke of Rowcester, views this small revolution with a jaundiced eye and sets out to close the hotel.

His encounter with Miss Harriet James, the head chef, might just change his mind... Witty and crazy, the best English Regency romance, by M.C. Beaton, the author of Agatha Raisin.

📖 The opinion of the Old Grimoire Bookstore

By our editorial & librarian committee

With this first volume, M.C. Beaton inaugurates a delightful series that brilliantly renews the English Regency novel. The premise is irresistible: ruined aristocrats who transform a dilapidated Bond Street mansion into a chic hotel to preserve their dignity and independence.

What makes this foundational volume so charming is the colorful cast of characters Beaton mischievously assembles: Lady Fortescue, a resourceful septuagenarian widow, Miss Tonks, and their companions in misfortune form an endearing and determined team. The author excels at sketching the contradictions of a fallen aristocracy that refuses to give up its rank while embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.

The romantic plot between the Duke of Rowcester and Miss Harriet James, the cook, adds a delectable sentimental dimension to this comedy of manners. Beaton perfectly masters the art of witty dialogue, plot twists, and British humor, while maintaining a genuine tenderness for her characters.

Rightly compared to Bridgerton, this series offers a more impertinent and madcap alternative, where social conventions are shaken up with delightful lightness. An addictive first volume that immediately makes you want to discover the rest of the adventures at the Pauper's Arms hotel.

Our rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — An irresistible, witty, and madcap series debut that reinvents Regency romance.