Penelope Goes to Portsmouth: A Novel of Regency England

By Marion Chesney and M.C. Beaton

Book Overview

A dead employer's legacy of five thousand pounds has allowed spinster Hannah Pym to resign from housekeeping and find adventure traveling the English countryside by coach. But adventure soon finds Miss Pym in the form of runaway brides, spirited heiresses, and international refugees, who give her an opportunity to test her expert matchmaking skills.

In the coach to Portsmouth, Miss Pym faces her most difficult matchmaking challenge yet. The lovely Miss Penelope Wilkins, daughter of a rich merchant, would be the perfect match for the handsome Lord Augustus, a nobleman whose fortune is almost depleted. She would be, that is, if the two were at all compatible.

Though strikingly beautiful, the too-practical Penelope seems to stand on quite the opposite cliff from the carefree Lord Augustus. But when the undaunted Miss Pym enlists their help in untangling an intrigue--and Lord Augustus steals an astounding kiss from the shocked Penelope--Miss Pym is convinced that her matchmaking expertise will soon bridge any chasm between the reluctant lovers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0B65FYCBH
• ISBN13: 9798212228541
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
• Length: 170 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Fine piece of work

Here is another fascinating look back into England during what has become known as the Regency, the early years of the 19th century, when George III was thought to be mad and his son stood in for him. The class system, which was almost a caste system, is clear again in this novel. A person was where God placed him and should not question the Creator. Or as John D. Rockefeller said a century later, "God gave me my money." As an egalitarian I find it disturbing but accurate from the Chesney pen. As ever, an interesting plot is melded with excellent characters, but it is still the ambience that fuels Ms. Chesney's success. This is no sugar sweet, hearts and flowers romance of the sort too common from lesser writers. It has the feeling of reality, as the reader travels from London by stagecoach to Portsmouth on the southern coast. Along the way we meet diverse people, high and low, a villainous harridan who in effect condemns an honest man to death for refusing her advances. We see a drunken man reformed and heroic. I can't imagine any serious reader not being taken by this book. It is serious literature that anyone can enjoy.