Total surprise historical audiobook read!
Ad pr product: Thank you to Netgalley and Mills and Book for a review copy.

When a friend on insta pointed out to me that the current audiobook I'd shared in my stories was a Mills and Boon publication I was surprised.

I'd selected this historical fiction book purely because I love historical fiction and it was written by Sarah Ferguson, I was intrigued, and no other audiobooks appealed on Netgalley at the time. I would not normally select a Mills and Boon book.

I really rather enjoyed it. Set in Scotland, London, Ireland and New York. It's inspired by Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, a great great aunt of the Duchess. Who she discovered whilst researching her family tree a few years ago. They both share some uncanny similarities in their lives. Which I picked up on whilst listening to the book.

Lady Margaret goes against her family's wish by refusing to marry, her chosen husband to be. This sets of a chain of events in her life. This book is not all about palaces and balls, there is some very gritty storylines about poverty in Victorian London, rural Ireland and New York. With Lady M trying her best to improve and help there situations. I particularly loved this element of the book, giving it a genuine historical feel.

Yes there is a background love story, but its not the dominant storyline at all. At the end of the book the Duchess talks about her research and her ancestor. As a family history researcher I found this fascinating. Happy to recommend this one if you love historical fiction.

I know you are all going to ask, no she does not narrate the book.

Just about edging into a surprise 4 star read ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Meh. From a historical perspective, it was a fine read as it went into greaaaat detail about numerous cities and the societies within them. That’s where the interest ends. The main protagonist is billed as a young spitfire of a woman who fights for her independence in a world where women are chattel. In reality, she travels around from one gorgeous and opulent living to another - rejecting numerous proposals from lovely men whom she leads on along the way. Her “suffering” is exile in a CASTLE with a full staff of servants who dress her, prepare all her food, and tend to her every need. Her masterful writing career is just sharing her diary… which people only care about because of her hated father’s status. Her philanthropic efforts are the tremendous efforts she makes to actually visit children’s homes, where the decaying states are described in visceral and harsh detail, rather than send funds. In the end, she does everything her hated and evil father wanted but just a few years later when she was “more mature” and so chose it herself.
Just so ridiculously out of touch. A story of a spoiled teenager who becomes an entitled adult.

My last book contained a “feisty, modern” heroine who I found to be rather annoying and dumb. Somehow, Margaret made similar choices but wasn’t annoying, wasn’t dumb, and rather compelling. I was surprisingly delighted by this one.

Lady Margaret lives a charmed life in Scotland. She is a member of society, is friends with royalty, and is considered quite a catch. Her father wants her to marry someone that she knows she cannot never be happy with, she runs off during the betrothal announcement, causing a scandal in their circle. Her father is so disappointed in her that he sends her away until the gossip blows over.

Margaret is not like other women of the time. She speaks her mind, strives to find her purpose in life, and knows what she does and does not want. While exiled, she finds joy and fulfillment doing charity work, learning who she is and what she wants from her own life. Her work takes her to America, where she finds inner strength and friendships that broaden her work, her world view and brings her to a place of contentment and pride in herself.

What an incredible and smart work of historical fiction! Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, based this on an actual relative of hers, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott. Ferguson worked on this for nearly two decades, doing research, digging into that time period, and you can hear Sarah's own voice in the character of Lady Margaret. Margaret is such an inspiration. She is not afraid to speak up even if it costs her dearly, as she will never compromise what she wants out of her life. The challenges for women of that time are some that many of us still face today, and readers will find themselves cheering for Lady Margaret to get her HEA!

dream blunt rotation: me, lady m, jo march, and ethel cain

a week of self-isolation where I binge watched The Crown led to me discovering that Fergie had ghostwritten a book..

monotonous but the premise was cool enough to get me hooked

its not horribly written but its just all over the place