Partners: A Novel.

A young heiress refuses to be traded in marriage like a possession. Jessie battles her guardian Sandow over her right to choose her own heart, resisting his plans to wed her to Gustave, his brother freshly arrived from Europe. But Gustave carries his own dangerous secret: he loves another woman, Frida, whom he introduces into Jessie's household under the guise of needing an assistant. What follows is a Victorian tangle of competing desires, hidden hearts, and the question of whether any of them will choose duty over happiness. Werner writes with sharp insight into the cruel economics of marriage in her era, yet the novel's true power lies in its emotional honesty, Jessie's fury at being owned, Gustave's anguish between family loyalty and authentic feeling, and the quiet devastation of loving someone you cannot have. A story about the courage it takes to demand a life lived on one's own terms.