Читать книгу Pursued For The Viscount's Vengeance - Sarah Mallory - Страница 4

Author Note

Pursued for the Viscount’s Vengeance required research into some of the Regency’s darker secrets, such as the use of laudanum. Opium mixed with a little alcohol was widely used to provide pain relief in a time when there was nothing else. Laudanum was highly addictive, and among the ‘opium eaters’ of the day were the poet Coleridge and even the reformer William Wilberforce. The extent of the Regency’s opium addiction was exposed in Thomas de Quincy’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater.

There was also a continuous fight by the Bank of England against counterfeit money. The practice of ‘coining’ was well known—coins had their edges clipped off and the clippings were melted down to make new coins. What is less well known is the Regency’s trade in counterfeit notes. This was particularly prevalent during the time when this book is set, because bad harvests and the ongoing war had reduced stocks of gold bullion to low levels. Clever forgeries of banknotes were circulated via the use of ‘utterers’—poor women who would use the notes to buy relatively cheap goods and receive good coin in change.

The main characters in this story are complex and damaged. Deborah Meltham thinks herself too disfigured for any man to want her, and has devoted her life to looking after her beloved but dissolute brother. Gil, Viscount Gilmorton, is grieving for the loss of his loved ones and carrying a heavy burden of guilt because he was not there to protect them. When Gil and Deb’s paths cross there is an instant attraction. Find out how they overcome the obstacles to achieve their happy ending.

Happy reading!