When he is virtually kidnapped by the dowager and thrown into Grace’s company the two realise that there is a definite attraction, which Jack is certainly keen to act on. He is irresistibly charming, and knows it, which for Grace is a revelation. The mysterious highwayman is in fact Jack Audley, late of the army, and with something of a past.

While Grace is suddenly aware of the young man’s humour and good looks, the dowager is transfixed by the man’s appearance, and later makes unrealistic demands to move a huge painting to confirm her suspicions, which becomes a farce in its own right. The normal run of things is interrupted when Grace and the dowager encounter a highwayman who holds up their coach. Thomas, the present Duke, and a sort of friend has observed it, as well as Elizabeth and Amelia, local friends who have known Grace for many years. How hard she works for it, and how she is the subject of the ceaseless and sometimes ridiculous demands of the older woman, not only Grace knows. Yet, Grace reasons, she did save her when both her parents died unexpectedly and gave her a home and living. This, and the fact that she has ruled one of the ancestral homes of the Wyndhams for many years, being the grandmother of the present unmarried Duke, she is a demanding and exacting person to spend time with, let alone work for every day. She has been the companion of the dowager for five long years, and reflects that while her employer is not actually evil, she is always full of the facts that she was “born the daughter of a duke, she had married a duke, and then given birth to another”. The novel begins with an introduction to Grace.

It works so well because while each book can be read alone, it also reflects a genuinely funny and fascinating picture of how the characters feel about the events, the twists of the plot, and how, most significantly, they feel about each other – and a daunting Dowager Duchess of Wyndham. This series of two novels compliment each other that they represent different views and perspectives of the same events, reflecting the personalities of the four main characters. While most people with a passing interest in historical romance will have heard of Bridgerton series of books on which the famous television series is based, Julia Quinn has also produced other series of books set in the early 1800s, sometimes called Regency romances. The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr Cavendish I Presume – The Two Dukes of Wyndham by Julia Quinn

The lost duke of wyndham series