And Only to Deceive

By Tasha Alexander

This is a wonderful historic 'Novel of Suspense'.

Emily finds herself a widow at a young age when her husband dies while on safari in Africa. This suits Emily quite well as she barely knew her husband before his untimely death and only married Philip, the Viscount Ashton, to escape the nagging of her mother. In fact, Emily's mother makes Sam Shephard's Mum look positively saintly.

Emily starts to delve into the life of her husband and finds herself in the unusual situation of falling in love with him when it is too late. She follows his trail to the British Museum and as well as finding a theft ring of stolen artifacts, finds intellectual stimulation, a love of Greek and the Classics, and a personal liberty afforded by her wealthy widow status she could never have dreamt of. In fact one of the delights of this book is seeing Emily flourish and blossom under the influence of some strong-minded women friends.

Of course there are dashing suitors involved, but they seem to have their own agenda, and who can she trust?

This is a delightful Victorian era novel with fabulous characters. I love Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody novels, and I will now place Tasha Alexander's Emily up there as one of my favourite heroines.