A Foreign Affair [Paperback]

Caro Peacock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

A remarkable debut novel rich in atmosphere, color, and suspense, Caro Peacock's A Foreign Affair is an irresistible blend of history, adventure, and ingenious invention that brings an extraordinary new writer—and a truly endearing and unforgettable heroine—to the literary stage.

The year is 1837. Queen Victoria, barely eighteen, has just ascended to the throne of England, and a young woman named Liberty Lane has just had her first taste of true sorrow. Refusing to accept that her gentle, peace-loving father has been killed fighting a duel, she vows to see justice done. . . .

The trail she follows is a twisting and dangerous one, leading the spirited young Englishwoman into an intricate weave of conspiracy. Contacted by secret agents, she is asked to pose as a governess in order to infiltrate cold, rambling Mandeville Hall and spy on its master, Sir Herbert Mandeville, who is at the center of a treasonous plan.

Nothing at the hall is what it seems, and every turn reveals another deceit, another surprise, another peril, leaving Libby to wonder who to trust and embroiling her in a deadly affair that could destroy the young queen and place Libby herself in mortal peril. . . .

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061445894
• ISBN-13: 978-0061445897
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,406,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Foreign Affair, March 25, 2008

By 

Maria E. Uribe "mexicandelight" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Foreign Affair (Paperback)

Murder, intrigue, and treason are but a few of the elements found in Caro's Peacock book A Foreign Affair. To discover the why and who of her father's murder, our female protagonist, Liberty Lane (Libby) must break away from the conventionalities of the Victorian Era, where women were often seen, not heard, and expected to accept fallacious accounts as facts.

A Foreign Affair has given birth to a new heroine, who not only resolves her father's suspicious death; but hinders a treacherous plot to overthrow queen Victoria from the English throne, and replace her with a caricature of a man proclaiming to be Princess Charlotte's son, cleverly saved at birth from the same people accused of poisoning her. This distortion of a king would be controlled by a group of power hungry men seeking their own interests and threatening to launch England into civil war.

In the process, Libby learns that thanks to her father's exceptionally unconventional upbringing, she has the discipline and the wittiness; she needs to survive an uncertain and harsh world. Although at first she yearns for her brother's support in her endeavors, she soon realizes that left to her own devices she is as capable as she is generous and caring as her father had been.

The alluring way, in which Caro Peacock's story captured and engaged me, it made it very difficult for me to put the book down, and when alas I turned to the last page it left me yearning for more, and feeling a sense of loss for my friend Libby.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read! (Video Review), April 25, 2009

By 

Dawn Aiello (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Foreign Affair (Paperback)

Length:: 1:58 Mins

A video based on the book, "A Foreign Affair", by Caro Peacock--a vibrant peek into the Victorian era through the eyes of her main character Liberty Lane. What if? What if a plot existed by which Princess Charlotte (grand-daughter of George III, only legitimate child of his son the Prince Regent, later George IV, and therefore destined to one day be Queen of England), and her new-born child were poisoned by her grandmother (George III's wife, Queen Charlotte), who was determined that no descendant of her daughter-in-law (the scandalous Caroline) should ever come to the throne. But, what if the baby was actually rescued from the murderous attentions of his great-grandmother and lived to take his rightful place on the throne twenty years later? What if? Asked by her government to pose as a governess, Liberty Lane moves in with one of England's most powerful and influential families. What she discovers could rock the very foundations of the monarchy--and lead to the assassination of the newly crowned, 18-year-old Queen Victoria. An unbelievably compelling read that I was unable to put down!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Liberty Lane in a Foreign Land, February 7, 2009

By 

S. Agusto-Cox "Savvy Verse & Wit" (Germantown, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Foreign Affair (Paperback)

After reading A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock for the HarperCollins First Look Program and the adventures of Liberty Lane, I decided to pick up the first in the series to see how Liberty's exploits began. Check out my review of A Dangerous Affair here. A Foreign Affair by Caro Peacock is set in England and France prior to the ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne of England. Liberty Lane is staying with family when she receives word from her father that he will be returning home from Paris shortly. Rather than wait for him to return, she runs off to Dover to meet him, but she soon learns of his death.

Liberty's impetuous nature leads her into dark alleys, a morgue, carriages with duplicitous men, and a household full of secrets as she attempts to uncover the truth behind her father's death. She refuses to accept the news that he died in a dual, and she is enlisted by men of influence to spy on the Mandeville household while feigning to be a governess.

Caro Peacock has a way with description. Readers will be thrust into cramped spaces with large, round scary men, like in the passage below:

"The man who called himself Harry Trumper had arranged things so that he and I were sitting side by side with our backs to the horses, the other man facing us with a whole seat to himself. As my sight cleared, I could see that he needed it. It was not so much that he was corpulent--though indeed he was that--more that his unweildy body spread out like a great toad's, with not enough in the way of bone or sinew to control his bulk" (Page 39)

Readers will enjoy how Liberty's relationship in this novel develops into more of a friendship in the second novel, rather than the fatherly relationship we see in A Foreign Affair. Liberty is a Victorian Age Nancy Drew, led by her impetuous and curious nature to solve mysteries. Peacock's use of language unfolds the intricate relationships between the characters and the mysteries in this novel.