When Adam Deveril's father dies unexpectedly, he finds out that his father, Lord Lynton, has died in debt with almost all the family lands mortgaged. All his advisors feel Adam will have to sell off much of the family land, including Fontley, their ancient family estate, to pay off all the debts.
But a close family friend suggests an alternative. Marry a wealthy woman! The friend, Lord Oversley, knows just the woman too. Jenny Chawleigh is the only child of an extremely rich businessman. Jonathan Chawleigh wants the best for his daughter, and to him, that means a husband who is a member of the English nobility. And although he was hoping for an Earl, he might be willing to settle for a Viscount, which is Adam's title now that his father is gone. If he approves of Adam, naturally. An added bonus: Jenny actually knows and admires Adam already, having met him, briefly, at the Overley's. She and the Overley's daughter Julia went to the same school and have a casual acquaintance.
Marry Jenny, and her father would save Adam from ruin and save the family estate and enable Adam to provide for his teenage sister, Lydia. But the main problem is that Adam is deeply in love with Julia Oversley and has already asked her to be his wife. Given his current financial state, Julia's parents are refusing to permit the marriage to proceed.
Despite his misgivings and his love for Julia, Adam allows himself to be persuaded to propose to Jenny. Jenny accepts his offer and Adam believes Jenny is just as ambitious as her overbearing father is. What no one knows is that Jenny fell head over heels for Adam those few times she met him at the Overley's. And that she isn't ambitious or a social climber. She marries him because it is the only way she can help him. She also marries him knowing that his heart belongs to Julia but she is willing to live with that knowledge.
Adam is a gentleman, but that is no guarantee that he will be a good husband. And poor Jenny can't hold a candle to the lovely Julia. The only thing she brings to this marriage is her father's vast wealth and her hidden love for Adam.
This was an enjoyable read. It is a quiet story of two people learning to care for each other despite all the differences in their backgrounds. There is not a lot of excitement, no dramatic love scenes, just Adam learning to respect and understand his prosaic little bourgeois wife. And Jenny learning to adapt to the ways of her spouse and to the ways of the nobility in 19th century England.
Review by Sunita on Dear Author.
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