——- SPOILER ALERT ——–

The only quibble I have with it is Annique’s arrival in Dover (Chapter 17, specifically pages 172 – 190). It don’t wash with me (and is completely out of Annique’s character and her behavior to this point in the book) that a seasoned, clever, and preternaturally aware spy such as she would so drastically drop her guard.

She acts like there is nothing to worry about — and I won’t buy the reason being that she has her sight back. If anything, I think that having the added information would make her more wary of her environment. She may be feeling inner joy, but she must first attend to the business of surviving and keeping several steps ahead of LeBlanc and Henri.

In order to move the plot forward, something had to happen in Dover and Grey did have to find her again. I can think of many other scenarios that could allow Grey and Annique to meet in Dover that would not have compromised Annique’s character so.

——- END OF SPOILER ——-

That said, Bourne has written a great debut that, I think, she could easily broaden into adventure fiction in the tradition of the Cornwell’s Sharpe series or O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series.

Her economy of phrase, lack of sentimentality, absolute lack of anachronism (in all things), and finely drawn characters make this book a joy to read. There are very few books written this well.

Indeed, if romantic historical fiction had such things as lists of exemplars of best-practice, this book would rate extremely high on a very short list.

I loved the part where the heroine hit the tree–(no spoilers) and waited to die.

It came to her that she was not going to die. Or, at least, not just immediately.

And then there were even more surprises. There are lines in this book which are classic.

And it’s not what you expect at all. It’s better.

It goes to show that sometimes you can write inside the box and create a masterpiece.