I don't usually like books with a romantic bent but this one touched something in my mind and heart. I liked the naive Cora Cash whose life as a very rich daughter with a domineering mother is so sad. Yet Cora has a core of steel that helps her cope with all of it. That is until she meets the Duke of Wareham. Sparks fly when he touches her just to help her up after a fall from her horse. Cora was knocked out and probably had a concussion so the duke insists that she stay at his estate until she is able to get up and move about.
To backtrack a bit, Cora grew up in her native America with a mother whose goal is to buy, yes buy, her daughter a title. The Cashes are extremely rich and Cora lacks for nothing. When she and her mother go to England she finds a different world, one where tradition and heritage is far more important than money. Not realizing the depth of this type of life, she says yes when the duke proposes. She is marrying for love.
Of course, Cora encounters many instances where her background conflicts with English tradition. The servants listen to her husband and his mother but ignore Cora's directions. She is misled time and again by what seems right and correct in her experience but runs afoul of English ways. Posing for a famous artist that both she and her mother admire, he portrays her as wanton and loose. Cora unveils the portrait she has not yet seen at a huge party. Of course, the English are appalled and Cora becomes the center of a great deal of gossip.
Yes, she went to England, at the insistence of her mother, to seek a husband. However, quite by accident she fell in love with the man rather than his title. In her new life, she discovered just how different she values are from those of her new homeland. Cora's love is tested often as she learns what it really means to be a duchess. I, like many others, have reacted like Cora Cash because I didn't understand what was really expected. Perhaps that is one reason I liked this novel.
All comes to a head when Cora discovers that the woman she thought was her best English friend was her husband's lover. Both have the same pearl necklace. Is the affair still alive and well? Did her husband marry her for her money or for love? One really needs to read this novel to understand Cora and how she copes with a far different life than any she has before known. Other readers may find themselves empathizing with Cora as well.
To backtrack a bit, Cora grew up in her native America with a mother whose goal is to buy, yes buy, her daughter a title. The Cashes are extremely rich and Cora lacks for nothing. When she and her mother go to England she finds a different world, one where tradition and heritage is far more important than money. Not realizing the depth of this type of life, she says yes when the duke proposes. She is marrying for love.
Of course, Cora encounters many instances where her background conflicts with English tradition. The servants listen to her husband and his mother but ignore Cora's directions. She is misled time and again by what seems right and correct in her experience but runs afoul of English ways. Posing for a famous artist that both she and her mother admire, he portrays her as wanton and loose. Cora unveils the portrait she has not yet seen at a huge party. Of course, the English are appalled and Cora becomes the center of a great deal of gossip.
Yes, she went to England, at the insistence of her mother, to seek a husband. However, quite by accident she fell in love with the man rather than his title. In her new life, she discovered just how different she values are from those of her new homeland. Cora's love is tested often as she learns what it really means to be a duchess. I, like many others, have reacted like Cora Cash because I didn't understand what was really expected. Perhaps that is one reason I liked this novel.
All comes to a head when Cora discovers that the woman she thought was her best English friend was her husband's lover. Both have the same pearl necklace. Is the affair still alive and well? Did her husband marry her for her money or for love? One really needs to read this novel to understand Cora and how she copes with a far different life than any she has before known. Other readers may find themselves empathizing with Cora as well.
