Indiscretion [Hardcover]

Jude Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2005

When your father is a man of expensive tastes and schemes but very little money, you soon learn to 'make do'. So when Caroline Fortune's prodigal father finally admits to losing all they possess, she automatically starts seeking employment as a governess. Her father, however, has far grander designs for his daughter...Caroline is to become the companion of the formidable (but extremely wealthy and childless) Mrs Catling. Caroline herself is uncomfortable with the plan but makes the most of this introduction to polite society and soon her beauty and intelligence attract the attentions of male admirers. But, much to her horror, she is just as quick to discover that love and romance are not what some 'gentlemen' seek. Surrounded by people with an alarming readiness to reveal each other's confidences, Caroline is exasperated to find herself unjustly implicated in their indiscretions. But will Miss Fortune be able to avoid losing her reputation without losing her head? And will she realise that there is at least one good man amongst the genteel set who is more than willing to take her side and, indeed, her fancy?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A clever, Jane Austen–like 19th-century English romance filled with parlor-room wit, Morgan's second novel (after Passion) follows the sharp-tongued and attractive Caroline Fortune as she's sucked into and spit out of a scheme cooked up by her father, Captain Fortune, to make them rich. The plan consists of installing Caroline as the companion (and potential heiress) to Sophia Catling, the wealthy and childless widow of one of the captain's old military chums. After arriving at Sophia's estate, Caroline finds Sophia to be a bitter hag whose nastiness only intensifies when Caroline receives a letter from an estranged aunt informing her that her father has died. Caroline leaves Sophia to live with her aunt's family at Wythorpe Manor, where she makes friends with the luminous Isabella Milner, who is preparing for her wedding to Richard Leabrook. Caroline soon realizes she's crossed paths with Isabella's intended and is torn between sparing Isabella's feelings or telling her about Richard's philandering ways. Caroline also attracts the attention of Isabella's brother, Stephen, a callous young man who enjoys trading barbs with her. Romances bloom and wilt in familiar fashions, but Morgan's colorful cast and sharp wordplay make the read a joy. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'With its lively and engaging heroine, its attractively wry love-interest, and its cast of well-drawn secondary characters, it is reminiscent of a good Georgette Heyer novel' Daily Mail, 25/6/05 -- Daily Mail 20050625 'With elegance and deftness, Jude Morgan recreates the convoluted games of love, status and fortune in Regency England. A rich tale of a journey into society' -- Good Housekeeping 20060101 'With its lively and engaging heroine, its attractively wry love-interest, and its cast of well-drawn secondary characters, it is reminiscent of a good Georgette Heyer novel' -- Daily Mail 20050625 'With elegance and deftness, Jude Morgan recreates the convoluted games of love, status and fortune in Regency England. A rich tale of a journey into society' -- Good Housekeeping 20060101

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (June 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755326431
• ISBN-13: 978-0755326433
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,446,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Georgette Heyer..., January 28, 2006

By 

Cat (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indiscretion (Hardcover)

Very good book in the style of Georgette Heyer, very engaging characters and a charming heroine. A true regency novel with a good plot and a pretty ending.

"When Caroline Fortune's prodigal father loses all they possess, he arranges for his daughter to become the companion of the formidable Mrs Catling. Although uncomfortable with the plan, Caroline resolves to make the most of this introduction to polite society, and her beauty and intelligence soon attract many admirers. But, much to her dismay, she is just a quick to realize that love and romance are not what some `gentlemen' seek and finds herself unjustly complicated in their indiscretions. Exasperated by her predicament, can Miss Fortune retain her reputation without losing her head and her heart?" BACK COVER

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly Delightful, June 14, 2006

By 

K. S. Scott (Cairo, Egypt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indiscretion (Hardcover)

This is a Regency style novel written with intelligence and wit. Miss Fortune, the heroine of the story, reveals, through her words and thoughts, delightful, wise, laugh-out-loud funny, and sometimes very poignant insights into the human heart. I highly recommend the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful Regency-era romantic comedy, December 1, 2007

By 

Nef (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indiscretion: A Novel (Paperback)

This book is more adeptly and enjoyably written than the majority of recent works exploring middle-class Regency romances from an Austen-esque perspective. It most closely resembles Pride and Prejudice, with flavorful dashes of Sense and Sensibility and even, in some details, Persuasion, thrown in.

The author aims for stingingly witty parlor repartee enhanced with trenchant social observation; I would say he succeeds in the former more or less most of the time, although several exchanges late in the book between Caroline Fortune and her love-interest grow a bit forced in their unflagging attempts at humor.

I give the author major points for a leading man that is, at least in personality and speech (though not in the expected familial pedigree and level of solvency), quite enjoyably different from most other contemporary authors' Darcy-type love interests. And Caroline herself is well-developed as a character.

The author tries to differentiate several secondary characters--Uncle John, Mr Downey, Mrs Catling, Miss Downey, and Mr Leabrook--from their nearest Austen counterparts Mr Collins (P&P); Lady Catherine (P&P); Mary Crawford (Mansfield Park), and Mr Crawford (MP)/Mr Wickham (P&P), respectively. Surprisingly, he largely succeeds; each of Morgan's characters is just different enough to pass for distinctive--for example, Morgan's Mr. Downey shares Mr Collins' slavish devotion to an aging benefactress, but while the latter is the pompous, self-deluded comic relief, the former is characterized as variously good natured and moodily intense, with mercurial fits of anger and despair.

I have two problems with this novel, but they by no means overshadow the book's overall excellence: First, the several present-tense passages Morgan inserts, bizarrely, into scenes throughout the book. This is not only confusing in that it interrupts the flow of the scenes both plot-wise and stylistically, but is self-conscisouly "literary" to an unacceptable degree. Thankfully, the reader runs into such passages only half a dozen times throughout the work.

Secondly and more importantly, I feel the resolution of Caroline's romantic attachment--which has been built up incrementally with skillful intensity over the narrative's course--is painfully, almost absurdly brief, given the fact that this is a romantic comedy. Both elements of this genre must be balanced, as Austen demonstrates so well in P&P and Persuasion, two novels that are comedic throughout but linger appropriately--in final chapters--on the romantic denoument, with the heroine and her love interest given several pages to reflect on their past prejudices and current attachments. In contrast, Morgan's lovers are given short shrift: less than two pages (the last ones) over which they come to a hurried understanding, and these pages on the tail-end of a breathless, multiple-chapter expedition involving a runaway seducer and seducee, an undercover sting, and a wrap-up scene with Mr Downey that resolves several other plot points in a page or two.

This book's level of quality--and the level of enjoyment it engenders in its readers--really deserves a more carefully crafted and satisfying ending. However, do not let that stop you from picking up Indiscretion.
If you love Jane Austen-style Regency rom-coms but have been disappointed with some of the recent entries in the genre, look no further.