Lots of stuff in this regency about international relations, the czar, the Grand Duchess Catherine, marriages for state reasons and so forth, which, to my mind is less interesting (one can read up on that in history books if curious) than the relationship between a widow of 35 again meeting a man she might have chosen instead. Alas, the history-inspired plot seems to take up more space than the love story, weakening this book as a romance.

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