Bringing Down the Duke
by Evie Dunmore
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Pub Date Sep 03 2019 | Archive Date Jan 30 2020
Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley
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Description
“This series balances friendship, politics, history, and romance in just the right mix.”—U.S. Representative Katie Porter
A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford suffragists in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.
England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.
Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?
Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....
“With her sterling debut, Evie Dunmore dives into a fresh new space in historical romance that hits all the right notes.”—Entertainment Weekly
“There is nothing quite so satisfying as seeing such a man brought to his knees by a beautiful woman with nothing to her name except an inviolable sense of her own self-worth.”—NPR
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781984805683 |
PRICE | $18.00 (USD) |
PAGES | 368 |
Featured Reviews
Evie Dunmore’s debut, Bringing Down the Duke, was delightful! Set in England in 1879, when women were still considered their husbands’ property and were not entitled to vote, this book follows Annabelle Archer, impoverished country girl recently accepted into Oxford’s first program for women, and her nemesis, Sebastian, Duke of Montgomery. Annabelle is a part of a group of “radical” suffragists whose mission it is to target men in power in order to persuade them to amend The Married Women’s Property Act of 1870 in order to allow women to own property and therefore have the right to vote. Annabelle’s target is Sebastian, who is uptight, seemingly conservative, and has just been tasked with winning the Tory election campaign in order to regain one of his family’s properties. Annabelle ends up at Montgomery’s property over Christmas, and the two realize they’re not so opposed after all, and their tentative friendship quickly turns into a love affair. Their class and Montgomery’s need to appear conservative force the two to make difficult decisions about their future together when there seemingly is no future. If you liked the grand grovel by Haven in Day of the Duchess, the ending of this book will be so satisfying.
This book was refreshingly different. I loved how Annabelle is a scholar and a (reluctant) political activist, and it’s always fun when there’s specific historical events happening in the story. The writing is funny, and Dunmore does a great job of setting up real opposition to her characters’ HEA and gets them through it. There are great female friendships, and a depiction of Queen Victoria that is, from what I’ve read, very accurately awful. Dunmore is going to an author to watch, and this book looks to be the start of a great new series.
This is an absolutely delightful debut that hits all the familiar notes of historical romance while managing to feel new and fresh at the same time. The setting -- Oxford, 1879 -- is a refreshing change from the ballrooms of Mayfair, and the focus on women's suffrage makes for fascinating reading (and a fascinating heroine!). I'm looking forward to many more wonderful books from Evie Dunmore.