Review: Offbeat and well written, this book is a winner.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 28, 2013
Lady Caroline, a precocious 13 year old immediately falls in love with the 25-year-old Marquess of Caldwell, friend of her brother when he comes upon her in her family library.  They begin an amazing conversation about life, about books, etc. that, despite the age gap, leads to a promise by him to teach her piquet every week in the afternoon.  That she is the eldest, wealthy, daughter of a notoriously open-minded society family was reason enough for this reader to be pulled into their orbit and want to how it will play out.  The penniless Marquess takes his family obligations quite seriously at great expense, literally and psychologically, to himself.  Caroline’s upbeat optimism and admiration sustain him over years of correspondence while she is growing up.  Oh, to make her debut and have a dance with him, FINALLY!  But the Marquess had been damaged/corrupted as a boy of 11 by a female predator, and this horror stands in the way of his ability to admit to loving Caroline and commit to marriage.  At 30 he still hasn’t been able to dig himself out of the hole of his failure to provide for those he cares for.  But he’s saved by his uncle who not only proposes a wild solution to his psychological quandary, but also enrolls him in the ‘training’ that will help him heal himself. May this review tempt you to experience Delilah Marvelle, first hand.