A social commentary: Book Review
The Untouchables: The Pretenders
Historical Fiction, Romance,
August 11, 2020
From USA Today Bestselling author Darcy Burke, your next Regency obsession: The Pretenders! Set in Burke’s popular world of The Untouchables, indulge in the saga of a trio of siblings who excel at being something they’re not. Can a dauntless Bow Street Runner, a devastated viscount, and a disillusioned Society miss unravel their secrets?Book One: A Secret SurrenderA survivor of the mean streets of London’s East End, Selina Blackwell has learned to be a chameleon, and in her current iteration as a fortune-teller, she’s able to provide a Season for her sister. Only, Madame Sybila can’t be a chaperone, so Selina takes on another identity as the proper Lady Gresham. But when a Bow Street Runner takes too much of an interest in her business, it seems the crimes of her past will finally come to light. Determined to prove that Madame Sybila is a fraud bent on fleecing London’s elite, Harry Sheffield enlists the help of the alluring Lady Gresham in exchange for introducing her to Society’s best. With his busy career and aspirations for the future, Harry has no time for marriage, but an affair is just right—until he discovers the lady’s disarming secret. Whatever his feelings for her, he can’t ignore who she is and who she’s been. And when she holds the key to the one case he couldn’t solve, he must choose justice or love.
A Middlesex Workhouse – for orphans and others, plus Bow Street Runners from Historic England.
ARC – free book from author
A story where the heroine is not what she seems – by a long way. She is not an aristocrat and perhaps has not actually married her ‘husband’ – and she certainly isn’t a Tarot card reader – or is she? And is she a Lady who makes charitable donations to an orphanage. Well, she certainly presents herself as one, and it’s true the Orphanage needs money.
And then you have the real Aristocrat who ‘plays’ according to his friends and Society, at being a Bow Street Runner. The original police force in London. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in 1749 by magistrate Henry Fielding (who coincidentally was also the author of The History of Tom Jones. A rather famous novel for its somewhat bawdy nature.
Bow Street is in the heart of the East End and at that time was a centre of crime and gin palaces – if they could be called that. Gin had become a major problem for London especially as it was very cheap and provided an easy way to forget the misery of being poor in London.
Tom Jones was a Foundling – or an Orphan – and an Orphanage plays a prime part in this story by Darcy. You really didn’t want to be an orphan at this time, or even later in the nineteenth century as dickens made people more than aware. Orphanages were nasty places, cold, over-crowded, without the money (or often the will of those in charge) to feed and clothe the orphans, let alone educate them. And in her book, Darcy also demonstrates the lure of crime for orphans – and for criminals to find easy pickings for everything from theft to prostitution.
Of course, the Bow Street runner did not believe in the orphanage his mother was giving money to, after all, she already was being swindled by a Tarot card fortune-teller – who he was determined to find and unmask. But he finds she has rather more secrets than he anticipated. And life becomes more complicated. So we have a nicely told historical romance from Darcy with a significant amount of commentary on Society and what life was like for those who did not hold titles nor wealth, and in addition had no training to fall back on to make a living. And for women, the choices were even fewer – if you wanted to be respectable – which was why so many were not. And who could blame them
