Once Upon a Marquess by Courtney Milan

once upon a marquessNarrated by Rosalyn Landor

I always find books and audiobooks by Courtney Milan difficult to review, usually because she explores such complex, meaty themes that it’s hard to talk about them all without writing a literary treatise! Once Upon a Marquess presented me with just that challenge because, as the first in a series that the author is envisioning as seven full-length novels plus several spin-off novellas, there is a lot of setting up to be done and a lot of back-story to get through whilst also telling the story of two former lovers who were torn apart by a scandal that rocked English society.

Lady Judith Worth, daughter of the Earl of Linney, is now the sole support of her siblings Benedict, Theresa and Camilla. Eight years previously, their father was convicted of treason and subsequently committed suicide, and their elder brother, Anthony, was transported following his conviction for the same crime. They are living in very reduced circumstances, supported by Judith’s talent for designing and making clockwork devices. She has earned enough money over the years to be able to send Benedict to Eton, to set something aside for her sisters and to keep a roof over their heads, but life is far from easy. One sister, Camilla, is missing and hasn’t been heard from in almost seven years; Theresa is… different and, as Judith discovers at the beginning of the story, Benedict is being badly bullied at school and won’t go back there.

When she was just nineteen, Judith fell in love with Anthony’s best friend, Christian Trent, the Marquess of Ashford and he with her, but the trials ruined the family irrevocably and the couple hasn’t seen each other since the earl’s funeral. Worse still, it was Christian’s evidence that ultimately convicted both her father and Anthony, making him the last man on earth Judith wants to see. But a situation has arisen in which she is unable to make any headway and she needs help. Specifically, she needs help from someone in a position of authority and the only person she knows in such a position is Christian. She writes to him asking for assistance, expecting him to send his man of business to her and is thrown when Christian himself arrives on her doorstep offering his assistance.

Surprise, fury, hurt and upset are just a few of the feelings his presence evokes in Judith, but ultimately she has nowhere else to turn and they agree to an uneasy truce.

It’s quickly very clear that neither Christian nor Judith ever really fell out of love with each other. This allows the author to spend more time explaining Judith’s family dynamic – which is a very trying one at times – and to embed the background for this book and the rest of the series, which has much to do with the Opium Wars, Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China’s sovereignty. But the time spent on the set-up, background and Judith’s family takes time away from the development of the romance, which takes a back seat for much of the story.

I read the print version of the book recently and I confess I had trouble getting into it, so much so that I set it aside at around the 25% mark. (I finished it a couple of weeks later and enjoyed it more than I’d expected to). While I liked both central characters, their initial encounters felt forced and artificial and there was too much going on for me to really be able to take it all in.

And this leads me to say that ultimately, Once Upon a Marquess is too busy. We have the mystery surrounding Anthony’s death or disappearance, the mystery surrounding the identity of the guardianship of Camilla and Theresa and the missing money; and there are too many characters with “quirks”. Judith’s propensity for assembling and disassembling clockwork devices has ultimately enabled her to support her family, but there’s no question it’s an odd habit. Christian has an unusual sense of humour, is colour-blind, has what I can only describe as a mild form of OCD and suffers from night terrors which, as a child, led to his becoming an opium addict courtesy of the medicine administered by his well-meaning mother. Theresa has what I’m guessing is a form of ADHD and a tendency to collect stray cats, and then there’s Benedict’s secret, which ultimately impacts on all of them.

On the plus side, the writing is absolutely sublime and the central characters are very well drawn. Christian is almost unbearably sweet, witty, moral, generous and so wants to be a part of Judith’s life that he encourages her to hate him if that’s what it will take for her not to run away from him again. And Judith is another of Ms Milan’s strong, complex, intelligent heroines; a woman struggling to do the right thing for her family – even though they drive her nuts. Her love for her siblings and her guilt that she can’t give them everything they deserve leap off the page and make her a wonderfully human character.

It’s a very ambitious book that would probably have benefitted from being a bit longer. None of the things I’ve listed as contributing to the overall “busy-ness” is uninteresting or irrelevant, but the romance gets less page-time than it deserves, and the resolution, while an HEA, is rushed.

The problems inherent in the story are, of course, still present in the audio version, but listening to Rosalyn Landor’s smooth-toned and emotionally nuanced narration definitely makes it easier to believe in the depth of the feelings Judith and Christian still harbour for each other. The exchanges I found overly mannered in the first part of the book are far less stilted because of the way Ms Landor imbues their attempts at normal conversation with a sense of unexpressed and inexpressible longing beneath the surface. She is extremely good at letting listeners hear the weariness and frustrations that often lie beneath Judith’s words, and she really captures the essence of the family dynamic between the Worth siblings. As is always the case when I listen to her, I feel that I’m listening to someone who understands the material on an instinctual level; her pacing and inflection are perfect whether in narrative or dialogue and all the characters are clearly and appropriately differentiated.

Even taking my reservations into account, there is a lot to enjoy in Once Upon a Marquess. It’s beautifully written, the setting is intriguingly complex and Christian is an absolute sweetheart, but it’s not my favourite of Ms Milan’s books. Rosalyn Landor’s narration greatly enhances the story, and is the main reason I feel able to recommend the audiobook to anyone who enjoys intelligently written and complex stories with a strong historical background.

Caz


Narration: A

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Courtney Milan

Once Upon a Marquess was provided to AudioGals for a review.

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