An Accomplished Woman

An Accomplished Woman
By Jude Morgan
St. Martin’s Press, 2009. 407 pgs. Romance

Thirty-year-old Lydia Templeton has reluctantly agreed to accompany Phoebe Rae to Bath to help her sort out her romantic tangle, but when Miss Templeton begins dispensing advice about Phoebe’s competing suitors, she discovers that her judgment is not always as sound as she believes and that her treatment of Mr. Durrant, the man whose proposal she refused years earlier and who is now actively seeking a wife in Bath, may have been unfair.

Jane Austen fans, rejoice! Jude Morgan is a talented Regency romance writer with a particular gift for dialogue. An Accomplished Woman is a satisfying and self-aware comedy of manners, with Morgan occasionally making pointed reference to the fact that she treads on Miss Austen’s territory. She does it so well, though, that readers will surely forgive the trespass.

MBC