The siren of Sussex

Evelyn Maltravers needs to secure her family's future in the wake of her disgraced sister's disastrous season. To stir up matrimonial interest, she intends to commission a beautifully tailored riding outfit. Ahmad Malik sees great possibilities in designing for Evelyn. Orphaned as an infant, apprenticed to a tailor, and at 15 sent to England where he worked as a bully boy in a brothel, he is now a gorgeous, raven-haired tailor and designer with an innovative and elegant sense of style and on the verge of owning his own business. As for Evelyn, soon after the death of Prince Albert she is swept into the world of spiritualism by a sponsor who believes she attracts spirits. Despite feeling an intense mutual attraction, Evelyn and Ahmad are focused on their goals and, of course, in this era, a romance between a woman of the gentry and a mixed-race tradesman is inconceivable. Matthews brings the Victorian era to vivid life with meticulously researched details and an impossible romance made believable and memorable. Recommend Matthews to fans of Vanessa Riley's Rogues and Remarkable Women series (A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby, 2020; An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler, 2021) which also deals with societal issues tied to race.

Matthews (Fair as a Star) opens her Belles of London series with a tender and swoonworthy interracial, cross-class romance in Victorian London. White British equestrienne Evelyn Maltravers is desperate for a successful London season; following the disgrace of her older sister, Fenny, it falls to Evelyn to make a match that will secure both their futures. Half-Indian, half-English dressmaker Ahmad Malik knows that the right society lady wearing his designs will secure him enough business to purchase the dress shop where he works. When Ahmad's client, Lady Heatherton, rescinds her order after Ahmad rejects her sexual advances, Ahmad pins his hopes on designing for Evelyn instead. As the necessary intimacy of dress fittings and consultations gives rise to attraction, Evelyn finds her prospects on the marriage market lacking compared to Ahmad. But confessing their mutual desire is just the first step in conquering the varied threats to their happiness. The societal obstacles to their relationship and thoughtful exploration of multiracial identity ground the romance, striking a delicate balance between grim period-typical attitudes and fluffy joy. Ahmad and Evelyn both marry impressive fierceness with understandable insecurities, making them a couple to root for. Readers will delight in this paean to women's fashion and horseback riding. Agent: Sarah Hershman, Hershman Rights Management. (Jan.)

Evelyn Maltravers must set herself apart to make an advantageous marriage and secure her impoverished family's future. Unfortunately, her only skill is riding, so she hires a tailor to create incomparable riding habits to draw the ton's eye when she's on horseback. Ahmad Malik is determined to become a well-known dressmaker for women, so he accepts Evelyn's commission for riding habits and, eventually, gowns. Both Evelyn and Ahmad must rely on each other for success in a world determined to slight them, and when an enemy tries to destroy Ahmad's business, Evelyn uses her ingenuity to save her family, her horse, and a future with Ahmad. VERDICT Matthews (Gentleman Jim) deftly underscores racial and gender discrimination in Victorian London in this excellent start to "The Belles of London" series; rather than overshadowing, it propels the romance. Romance aficionados who love fashion and animals will delight in this tender romance and will be excited to see Evelyn's friends in future installments.--Eve Stano

*Starred Review* Evelyn Maltravers needs to secure her family's future in the wake of her disgraced sister's disastrous season. To stir up matrimonial interest, she intends to commission a beautifully tailored riding outfit. Ahmad Malik sees great possibilities in designing for Evelyn. Orphaned as an infant, apprenticed to a tailor, and at 15 sent to England where he worked as a bully boy in a brothel, he is now a gorgeous, raven-haired tailor and designer with an innovative and elegant sense of style and on the verge of owning his own business. As for Evelyn, soon after the death of Prince Albert she is swept into the world of spiritualism by a sponsor who believes she attracts spirits. Despite feeling an intense mutual attraction, Evelyn and Ahmad are focused on their goals and, of course, in this era, a romance between a woman of the gentry and a mixed-race tradesman is inconceivable. Matthews brings the Victorian era to vivid life with meticulously researched details and an impossible romance made believable and memorable. Recommend Matthews to fans of Vanessa Riley's Rogues and Remarkable Women series (A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby, 2020; An Earl, the Girl, and a Toddler, 2021) which also deals with societal issues tied to race. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Author of The Chocolate Maker's Wife, Brooks reimagines Geoffrey Chaucer's rollicking story of The Good Wife of Bath from its heroine's perspective, offering the nuanced tale of a girl married off at age 12 and learning to fight to survive. In Beautiful Little Fools, the USA Today best-selling Cantor reimagines the ending of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, with a diamond hairpin discovered near the scene of Gatsby's murder casting suspicion on three key women: Daisy Buchanan; her best friend, Jordan Baker; and Catherine McCoy, suffragette sister of Tom's mistress, Myrtle. In The Magnolia Palace, the New York Times best-selling Davis parallels the lives of two women: Lillian, a celebrated artist's model in New York who loses her mother to the 1918 influenza and ends up working as secretary to the industrialist Henry Clay Frick's imperious daughter, and Swinging Sixties English model Veronica, who discovers hidden messages while posing at the Frick Collection that lead her to a mystery surrounding the Frick family. From Harrigan, author of the New York Times best-selling The Gates of the Alamo, The Leopard Is Loose tells the 1952-set story of a five-year-old mourning the death of his fighter-pilot father, whose life is further upended when a big cat escapes from Oklahoma City's zoo. In The Siren of Sussex, from the USA Today best-selling Matthews, bluestocking Evelyn Maltravers—from a family that has seen better times—knows she can make a mark in Victorian society only through her great skill as an equestrienne, though she will need a striking riding habit. And that brings her happily to Anglo-Indian dressmaker Ahmad Malik. From Wallace, whose New York Times best-selling To Marry an English Lord inspired Downton Abbey, Our Kind of People tells the story of a slightly outré family during New York City's Gilded Age, with the wife especially clinging to her status among the elite even as her husband bets all on an elevated railroad that he says will change the city.

Evelyn Maltravers must set herself apart to make an advantageous marriage and secure her impoverished family's future. Unfortunately, her only skill is riding, so she hires a tailor to create incomparable riding habits to draw the ton's eye when she's on horseback. Ahmad Malik is determined to become a well-known dressmaker for women, so he accepts Evelyn's commission for riding habits and, eventually, gowns. Both Evelyn and Ahmad must rely on each other for success in a world determined to slight them, and when an enemy tries to destroy Ahmad's business, Evelyn uses her ingenuity to save her family, her horse, and a future with Ahmad. VERDICT Matthews (Gentleman Jim) deftly underscores racial and gender discrimination in Victorian London in this excellent start to "The Belles of London" series; rather than overshadowing, it propels the romance. Romance aficionados who love fashion and animals will delight in this tender romance and will be excited to see Evelyn's friends in future installments.—Eve Stano

Matthews (Fair as a Star) opens her Belles of London series with a tender and swoonworthy interracial, cross-class romance in Victorian London. White British equestrienne Evelyn Maltravers is desperate for a successful London season; following the disgrace of her older sister, Fenny, it falls to Evelyn to make a match that will secure both their futures. Half-Indian, half-English dressmaker Ahmad Malik knows that the right society lady wearing his designs will secure him enough business to purchase the dress shop where he works. When Ahmad's client, Lady Heatherton, rescinds her order after Ahmad rejects her sexual advances, Ahmad pins his hopes on designing for Evelyn instead. As the necessary intimacy of dress fittings and consultations gives rise to attraction, Evelyn finds her prospects on the marriage market lacking compared to Ahmad. But confessing their mutual desire is just the first step in conquering the varied threats to their happiness. The societal obstacles to their relationship and thoughtful exploration of multiracial identity ground the romance, striking a delicate balance between grim period-typical attitudes and fluffy joy. Ahmad and Evelyn both marry impressive fierceness with understandable insecurities, making them a couple to root for. Readers will delight in this paean to women's fashion and horseback riding. Agent: Sarah Hershman, Hershman Rights Management. (Jan.)