Susanne Dunlap's Regency novel, The Teacher's Noble Heart is an addition to her double dilemma series. You can read my reviews of others here: The Dressmaker's Secret Earl | The Sopranos Daring Duke | The Falconer's Lost Baron
In Regency Cornwall, governess Miss Wilkins has always
survived by being sensible, capable, and self-reliant. When she dares to take a
bold step toward independence, she has no intention of complicating her life—or
her heart.
Her encounters with James Pentarrant, the steadfast captain
of the Delabole slate quarry, are marked less by romance than by spirited
disagreement. Self-contained and disciplined, James challenges her views at
every turn, even as he respects her resolve. What begins as wary sparring and
mutual resistance gradually deepens into an understanding neither expected nor
sought.
Alongside their unfolding story, a young heiress newly
returned to Cornwall hides a calling that defies convention. When a moment of
danger on the moor—and the inevitable gossip that follows—forces her into an
unintended engagement, assumptions harden and emotions become dangerously
entangled. Her growing affection for her own sparring partner, a gentle country
doctor with the manners of a true gentleman and a secret of his own, only
further unsettles what society is determined to set in place.
Set against the rugged beauty of Cornwall’s coast, quarries,
and windswept moors, The Teacher’s Noble Heart is a tender Regency romance of
intertwined lives, mistaken conclusions, and love discovered in spite of every
sensible intention.
My Thoughts
Set in Cornwall in the vicinity of a slate quarry, This double dilemma romance has the flavour of the Poldark novels and is a refreshing change from those Regency novels set in London and the Ton. If you have read earlier books in the series, you will have met Persephone before, fresh from her placement as a governess and newly independent following an inheritance. Her main focus and passion is to educate those poorer children who otherwise would have no education. Persephone takes a cottage in hearing distance of the quarry but finds it difficult to get the parents on their side. She is appalled at the hard, physical work the children have to do in order to earn pennies for their families.
Sophia is the beautiful yound daughter who is under pressure from her family and others to marry the local Quarry Captain, James Pentarrant, an older but eligible man whose family is keen for the match to ensure funds for the quarry. Sophie, it turns out, is an intelligent and ambitious young lady who wants more than a comfortable marriage. Her secret passion is to improve the lives of women and has become very knowledgeable about remedies and herbal medicines. Men, who are able to train officially, disregard a lot of the female ailments which she understands. Sophia finds herself drawn to the local doctor, Nathaniel and in many ways they share a passion for helping and tending to people's health.
James and Persephone and Sophia and Nathaniel spend much of the story in opposition. How this can be resolved, together with a hidden secret about Nathaniel, is an intriguing story. With two independent central female characters, it sheds a light on the aspirations and choices available to women in Regency times.
In short: Can love find a way?
About the Author
Susanne Dunlap started out a historian, became an
award-winning historical novelist with fourteen published novels for adults and
teens, and is now the author of the Regency romance series, Double-Dilemma
Romance. She lives and writes in a converted textile mill in Biddeford, Maine.
You can follow Susanne here: Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | You tube
Book links: Amazon UK |
Thanks to Susan Dunlap, Comfortable Prose Publishing and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
Check out the rest of the tour!
Thank you so much for being part of the tour!
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