The book does not dwell on this, but it is an important part of Rose’s emotional landscape, as you might expect. Specifically, she became pregnant and miscarried a few weeks after hearing that he was dead. There has been a lot going on with Rose that we have been unaware of. The first part of the story is about Rose. Thomas has more reasons than the obvious to want to stay married to Rose – he has escaped a horrifying situation and left men behind whom he has promised to rescue, and Rose’s money is going to be very helpful in carrying out that rescue. Or is she? She was underage at the time of her marriage to Thomas, and the elder members of the family are very keen for her to have the marriage annulled. Rose can’t marry her duke, because she is married already. The wedding is interrupted by the arrival of Thomas Beresford, a Commander in His Majesty’s Navy, who was declared dead four years ago when his ship went down with all hands lost – just two weeks after his secret marriage to Lady Rose Rutherford. However, on a second reading, my awareness what Rose was feeling (or rather, carefully not feeling) at this point in time, made that opening really striking. Suffice it to say, I more or less skimmed over this the first time I read it.

It’s hard for me to explain what makes this such a masterful portrait of Rose without spoiling the story. “Oh, and by the way, if you want to put an end to all this nonsense…” Especially since it came from a duke.Įven if it was the most careless, most dispassionate offer of marriage that a girl could ever receive. She was not generally superstitious either, but after receiving twelve offers of marriage, the thirteenth… well, it was bound to make a girl think. It was, she had decided, high time she moved on. Lady Rose Rutherford was not a young lady who dithered and, having made up her mind, she generally stuck to it. As the novel begins, she has finally accepted one of these offers – from a duke, no less: She is poised, fashionable, and immediately popular and inundated with offers of marriage. When the Rutherfords first arrived in London, both Lily and George (their niece, who is of a similar age to the sisters) faced challenges fitting in, but not so Rose. In the prior books, Rose has been characterised as beautiful, very headstrong, and fiercely loyal to her younger sister, Lily. This novel works as a standalone, but it’s definitely better read in context – Gracie writes lovely, complex webs of characters and families, and it’s a shame to miss out on that. The series follows the Rutherford family, and this is the story of Rose, the eldest sister. Marry in Secret is the third book in Anne Gracie’s Marriage of Convenience series.

Marry in Scandal by Anne Gracie