"First in a new series about three sisters is captivating and delightful."

The fashionable Constance Duncan and her two sisters have successfully hidden from their peers the family's precarious financial shape. The sisters' latest effort to keep the family afloat is a gossipy broadsheet, the Mayfair Lady. Constance, the eldest and an avid suffragette, writes political articles placed strategically between the fashion and society chitchat pieces. Her driving ambition is educating and winning the right to vote for women. However, after meeting a particular suave politician, she questions her choices. If her fiancé hadn't died, would she be content within society's norms as a wife and mother?

Up-and-coming politician Max Ensor's interest is piqued after meeting the striking Duncan sisters, especially the sharp-witted Constance. A conservative Member of Parliament, Max perceives the Mayfair Lady's editor could incite the suffragettes, causing his party trouble. Cultivating Constance, an outspoken women's right advocate, might lead him to the agitators. Charming her should prove to be enlightening.

Max's normal seduction immediately changes as the forward spinster makes the first move. A fast-paced game of cat and mouse ensues as Constance wants to convert the Neanderthal, and Max desires to forewarn his colleagues of the suffragettes' plans.

The first in a new trilogy, Ms. Feather captures readers' interest with her mature, enlightened heroine. Max is an able opponent for Constance as the verbal sparring zings back and forth. Readers will be delighted when the sisters' novels follow in March and April.

Reviewed by Suan Wilson
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted February 1, 2004