Regency Years

The Victorians are often credited with ushering in our current era, yet the seeds of change were planted in the years before. The Regency (1811-1820) began when the profligate Prince of Wales - the future King George IV - replaced his insane father, George III, as Britain's ruler. Around the regent surged a society steeped in contrasts: evangelicalism and hedonism, elegance and brutality, exuberance and despair. The arts flourished at this time with a showcase of extraordinary writers and painters such as Jane Austen, Lord Byron, the Shelleys, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner.

Alistair Forsythe, the 12th Earl of Reardon, is the most sought-after man in the ton this Christmastide season. Handsome, of good character, and possessing a large fortune, he finally intends to do his duty to his title after being in India for years. In the market for a wife, he can now easily have his pick of any woman, yet none of them have snared his interest—not since Carole, but she is beyond his reach.