I’m still in alt over this fantastic literary analysis for my Regency time-travel novel, REGENCY SOCIETY REVISITED. What a top-of-the-trees honor! My thanks and gratitude to Colin, Amazon Reviewer, for this delightful review.
Anthropologist Serenity Steele meets her heart’s
desire in the form of a short-tempered Regency rake, Nicholas Wycliffe.
Amazon.com
and Smashwords.com!
Duty or Love? In the year 2020, anthropologist Serenity Steele's
research assignment is to travel back into the past--however, she doesn't count
on the many attractions of a certain Regency rake. Should she ignore her
obligations and stay in the past... or should she leave behind the man she
loves?
An Enchanting Dilemma: In the year 1812, Nicholas Wycliffe, the toplofty
Lord Brockton, has no desire to take a wife, especially a mysterious widow who
doesn't live by society's rules. But what is he to make of the enchanting
"Mrs." Steele, who not only refuses to discuss her past, she also has
the audacity to turn him down when he proposes marriage?
*****
Destination: Regency England, February 4, year of our
Lord 1812. Resort town of Bath, county of Avon.
“Are you ready, Dr Steele?” a technician asked from
behind the glass-enclosed tomb.
“Yes, ready.” Serenity’s voice was lost in the
vastness of the Time Displacement Wave chamber. In the center of the apparatus,
her portmanteau waited.
Meet Anthropologist Serenity D Steele. She must be
the unluckiest girl alive. Unlike her first name, her love life has been
anything but serene. An ego battered and bruised from a bad romance with
endogamous, upper-class, modern-day rake, Sir Clyde; she must now steel herself
for a time travel trip to the Regency Ton of old, which in her view abounds
with similar bounders like her ex. If that wasn’t bad enough, she has to embed
herself for a whole year in a society which in her own words is where “women
led narrow, restricted lives,” and where “men’s thoughts were of nothing more
earthshaking than how to tie their cravats”!
A third-person multi-character POV story, it is clear
from the outset Serenity is a true heroine in the classical Homeric sense of
Grecian antiquity. We open with a typical day in university; a meeting with her
mentor, Dr Axel Rhinehart, whose surname means “wise counsel” in German and
excellently mirrors the Hanoverian dynasty on the throne at the time of Jane
Austen’s iconic work ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The setting is the present day
where temporal displacement technology is in its infancy. The Homeric action
call is to go back in time and study periods in history as part of an academic
research project. Axel reveals in a later discussion how Serentiy’s colleague,
who was to go back to 1812 England, has aserendipitously broken his leg. This
means Serenity, as one of the best anthropological researchers in the
university, must go in his place.
With a preference for studying pre-industrial and
hunter gatherer societies, as well as her less-than-sympathetic views of the
Regency Ton, Serenity is initially and quite understandably reluctant to go.
However, she soon changes her mind and makes her necessary preparation for
(what is to her at least) a journey into the Homeric ‘underworld’ that is high
society Georgian England. I won’t reveal any spoilers on how the story unfolds
but Susanne Knight’s sense of metaphor and wordplay in the prose was both a
delight and privilege to behold. I particularly loved, for example, her
description of how the overhead, sparkling chandeliers swayed with the
abundance of energy flowing throughout the room in the Lydon Ballroom–the
artistic carte blanche mirroring its modern meaning was, I thought, pure
literary genius! Oh, one other thing, too. It is a Regency Romance and of
course, any book in this genre would not be complete without its own
Darcey-esque handsome hero. He comes in the delightfully dapper figure of
Nicholas Wycliffe, the aloof and eminent Lord Brockton. No spoilers as to what
happens, though!
What I really enjoyed about reading 'Regency Society
Revisited', nevertheless, was how Serenity’s character mirrored in so many
methods and mannerisms that of Austen’s classical character Elizabeth Bennet.
Just like Liz, she is clever and well-spoken with a sharp rapier sense of wit
and repartee which carries her above the prejudices pervading her
class-restricted subjects of study. Nowhere is this more well placed than her
research notes and hilarious comments dotted at different points across her
study year which not only help cement the story but also give the book its own
extraordinarily powerful and unique voice. Juxtaposed on this is her own hurt
vanity and preconceptions of the historical Ton influenced by her own ill-fated
present-day dalliance with dastardly dapper rascal Sir Clyde. The contrast
makes for a positively potent pride and prejudice mixture and dynamically
drives the story line through countless plot twists and turns to a very unexpected
but for me at least, extremely satisfying conclusion.
Some other positive points about the story. Like
every good science fiction novel on time travel, the laws of temporal
displacement are spelled out clearly and concisely from the outset. However,
with the technology being in its infancy that does not mean to say there might
(or might not) be surprises on the way! What really makes the story stand out
however, is the sheer volume of research Susanne has put into the book.
References to Lord Castlereagh, Almack’s Assembly Rooms, John Gay’s ‘The
Beggar’s Opera’ and Anne Radcliffe’s gothic classic ‘The Castles of Athlin and
Dunbayne’ all add a sense of autenticità senza compromessi to the story
and make it a real stand out, cross-genre Regency Romcom.
In conclusion, Susanne Knight has delivered a
ding-dong debonaire delight of a novel that both entertains and educates the
reader and will leave you crying out for more. It is no exaggeration when I say
Susanne Knight is one of those writers who really puts the ‘awe’ into author
and the “right” stuff into her writing – so go out there and buy this book
because you will be doing yourself a colossal disservice not to. Enjoy!--Colin,
Amazon Reviews
Hope you enjoy this time-travel Regency romance!
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Susanne Marie Knight
Read outside the box: award-winning Romance Writing with a Twist!
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