Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie

The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie

Abigail Chantry is living life as a governess when she has to save her sister from horrid circumstances.  Abigail not only rescues her sister, but two other young women as well and the four become inseparable and quickly destitute, since Abigail has gotten sacked and the other three have no employment.  When her sister Jane becomes ill Abigail does what she feels she must to secure money for a doctor, she climbs into the window of the mansion across the way hoping to find something to sell.  Instead she finds Lady Beatrice bedridden and in an awful state of neglect and vows to help her.  When Abigail returns with soup Lady Beatrice makes an intriguing offer – the ladies should live with her as her nieces.  Hence the four friends become the Chance Sisters and their luck has surely changed.  At least until Lady Beatrice’s nephew, off at sea for a decade, returns and finds cousins he knows he does not have running the household.

This was a delightful listen.  The reader is extremely talented and I could listen to her talk for hours!  Her very proper British accents (and not so proper when called for) made the tale come to life and I found the story moved quite quickly.  Thankfully the passionate steamy bits were all relegated to the last disc so I didn’t have to blush throughout the entire story.  I have to admit I am not quite sure if I would have enjoyed it as much if I had read it, but I would give anything Alison Larkin voices a listen!