Monica Trevlyn's husband is away, and she's left to face a viper's nest of social predators alone. The Bellamys circle with their suffocating attentions and unclear intentions, while society watches with hungry eyes, ready to devour any sign of weakness in her marriage. Gossip swirls, threats multiply, and Monica must establish boundaries with those who would undermine her happiness, all while grappling with her own deepening feelings for the husband who cannot return soon enough. This is Victorian marriage at its most precarious: a woman's world narrows to reputation and rumor, and she must fight for her happiness with weapons no one will name. Everett-Green captures the quiet terror of a woman surrounded by enemies, her dignity her only shield, her marriage her only fortress. For readers who appreciate the subtler domestic dramas of the nineteenth century, where battles are fought in drawing rooms and hearts are won or lost over breakfast tables.
