My siblings gave me raised eyebrows when they heard about the book I was reading. And no surprise, because usually the books I pick out are set somewhere west of the Mississippi and involve homesteaders or cowboys or trail-blazers of some kind.
And this book is set in England. On the Island of Tresco. And involves a titled lady, pirate treasure, and botany. Definitely not my usual read.
But it was a wonderful book, and the only reason it took me a week to finish it was because I limited myself and worked on other projects, too. Including working on my own book, which suddenly didn’t seem quite so fun.
In The Nature of a Lady, Elizabeth Sinclair is fleeing from society–at least for the summer. Weary with the society she never seems to fit in with, she and her maid make their home in a summer cottage where she can explore the island and use her microscope to her heart’s content. Until she stumbles into the secrets left behind by the cottage’s former occupant, a woman also named Elizabeth.
Oliver Tremayne is desperate to find his sister and welcomes help from whatever angle it comes, even from the titled lady staying in what should have been his sister’s summer cottage. Or maybe he especially desires her help. A chance meeting from years before and their shared love of nature reach beyond the classes that separate them.
But with each clue they discover about Beth Tremayne’s disappearance, danger mounts, and it will take more than a nature walk to find her.
The Nature of a Lady has the perfect combination of humor, mystery, and suspense. The side romance of Elizabeth’s maid, Mabena, is also done just right. It complements the main story and adds lots of laughs, making it hard to decide just who my favorite character was. Definitely looking forward to the rest of the series!
