Society & Civility

Ann Marshal has spent the first nineteen years of her life happily living in the small village of Dorbeset, where her beloved father and country gentleman Julian raised her to have a curious mind and to look beyond the strict class boundaries in which Regency England puts so much stock. Her provincial yet idyllic existence is upended, however, when she learns she must spend six months with family friends in London, learning the one lesson her father has never been able to teach her: how to be a society lady.

Her father's old pals from university take her under their collective wing, but it isn't long before one of them reveals a shocking secret: Julian is not her father, only her guardian. Instead, she is the daughter of Julien's good friend Mr. Ranquest, a successful businessman. Now heir to an enormous fortune and the 'belle of London', Ann struggles with her feelings about her parentage and, although she arrived in London with no intention of seeking out a husband, she is alternately drawn to and pursued by a number of gentlemen.

These include a young lawyer seeking a woman with the money to complement his family's good name; Tom Barnes, the kind of foppish dandy Ann has always abhorred, yet whose high spirits and charm Ann is undeniably drawn to; and Tom's father Charles Barnes, a naturalist who shares Ann's love of the outdoors but would rather deny himself happiness than potentially interfere with his son's.

Will Ann settle for compatibility and companionship, or risk marrying an inconstant man of little substance? Or will she hold out for a greater love that could actually last a lifetime?

Set in the Regency era, "Society & Civility" will appeal to fans of Jane Austen, but its timeless questions about love and identity make it all too relevant to our modern world.