Elizabeth Hoyt has graced her readers with stories that have entertained as they have instructed regarding not only the romantic practices of the 19th century but how those relationships played out against the backdrop of great wealth that existed along side crippling poverty and want. So it is here where a committed and caring man carries on the life work of his family: giving opportunity, shelter and safety to the abandoned children of St. Giles, a part of London where crime and disease flourished on the foundation of poverty. Mr. Makepeace was an educated man who not only cared for and gave substance to a better way of living to needy children but was also was, in fact, the mysterious character known throughout London as the Ghost of St. Giles–sort of a Robin Hood who not only stole for the good of his kids, but brought justice into the dark corners of a world where little justice could be found. Lady Isabel just happened to be coming back from the children’s home–she was a patroness–when the Ghost had been attacked and viciously beaten, and by her good and swift action, saved his life. From this moment on, Lady Isabel and Winter Makepeace were launched on a path that brought them together in a variety of circumstances, nurturing an attraction that put them on a collision course with those who would perpetrate evil and abuse on women and children.
It is truly a love story, but it is one that is wrapped in a serious context of social ills, some of which are addressed by people of the Quality, but in such a way that they do more harm than good. Just as in Dickens’ Oliver Twist, those who should have been concerned for the well-being of helpless children were only doing so for personal and political gain. Yet these two main characters had the fortitude and just plain guts to keep on working against those who were ignorant of the true needs or who used their wealth to gain inroads into circumstances that allowed them to use and abuse the poor for their own profit. It is truly a story filled with passion and intense caring, intense caring for each other as well as for the well-being of helpless children. Lady Isabel and Winter Makepeace form an unlikely liason, she because she is drawn to his inner strength and deep values of caring and concern; he is drawn to her in spite of his dislike of the aristocracy and their posturing, their hypocracy, and their surface caring that does not allow them to be truly touched by the distresses of the poverty stricken. Yet their love continues to grow, and even in the end, when it appears that their relationship is doomed, the author brings in some surprises that will resolve the intense emotional log jamb and move the story to a very satisfying end.
As always it is the work of a truly expert writer and is another gift to all her readers. It’s not to be missed and will be well worth the time and energy to experience. I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.
Kate G, Reviewer
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