A LADY OF HIDDEN INTENT

Author: Tracie Peterson ISBN: 9780764201462 3/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: BETHANY HOUSE
Time Period: 1850's England and America

He believes them to be strangers... The door opened suddenly, and there she was. Carter forgot what he was saying and simply stared at the vision before him. Hang his imagination; this woman was far more intriguing in the flesh... Yet she knows the truth... Catherine found she couldn't look away, he was so very handsome. His face had a rather rugged look, perhaps more so than she'd noticed five years ago. How strange that he'd never married... Now that their paths have crossed again, can Catherine break free from the past to embrace the chance for love? A life of privilege becomes only a distant memory when Catherine Newbury's father is falsely imprisoned and she is whisked away from her home in England to America. Forced to disguise her past and create a completely new life, Catherine takes on a servant's last name and carves out a tenuous future for herself as a seamstress. Soon her dress designs are sought throughout Philadelphia. When the dashing Carter Danby accompanies his mother and sister for a design consultation, Catherine suddenly encounters her past face-to-face. Is Carter's avid interest in her genuine…or does he, as she suspects, recognize her as the young lady he met while touring England? She cannot deny the attraction, but admitting her true identity may jeopardize her father's only hope for freedom. Will Catherine be forced to sacrifice her dreams of love?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

A LADY OF HIDDEN INTENT by Tracie Peterson swept me away to an era where ladies might have been more demure but were not without their share of brains to accompany their beauty. Ms. Peterson's Catherine is one of the most forward thinking heroines I've encountered, and I loved reading her story. She is selfless but smart enough to recognize love when it finds her. Smart enough, too, to know that what she believes is happening may only happen once in a lifetime. The question for this savvy lady is: sacrifice someone she loves, namely her father? Or should she forego her own chance at love and happiness in order to save that treasured father? They are questions that no woman, at any time, should have to face, but they're exactly what plagues Catherine. Her father's been wrongly convicted of slave trading and she is in hiding, waiting for the day when she will be able to reclaim her place in polite society.

This story reads so easily, and with such grace and smoothness, that I read it in one sitting, hardly realizing the hours were passing. It is a wonderful escapist tale, not only for the heroine but for the reader as well. I especially enjoyed the bits about garment construction, since I am an avid sewing enthusiast. Catherine "hides" in a sewing house, so much of the story is devoted to telling of her life in hiding. Hence, the sewing references, which were historically accurate and highly interesting.

All in all, A LADY OF HIDDEN INTENT is an enjoyable tale that definitely makes the hours fly! Well done!

Kay James