Much like Jane Austen Jude Morgan knows how to turn a good sentence. As a matter of fact his An Accomplished Woman gives a serious nod in the direction of Jane Austen's work, which I wasn't really expecting, but it was a nice surprise anyway. While I generally steer clear of Jane Austen spin-offs (nothing against them--they're just not my thing), this is more 'in the vein of" rather than a "what happened next" sort of story. It's easy to see where he took his inspiration, but the story is pure Regency with its own characters and tangled situations.
The accomplished woman of the title is Lydia Templeton, dear sister, and beloved daughter but at the ripe old age of 30 not a respected wife. Lydia prefers to lead a quiet, scholarly life in the country with her widowed father, and will not be persuaded to marry by her overbearing brother and sister-in-law. It's not that she hasn't had the opportunity. Lincolnshire's most eligible and attractive bachelor, Lewis Durrant, popped the question some ten years previously. Only the arrogance of his expectations made it all the easier for her to decline. Curiously though, the two have remained friends (or perhaps better to describe the two as verbal sparring partners), Mr. Durrant being especially close to Lydia's father.
When Lady Eastmond, Lydia's godmother, asks her to spend the summer in Bath chaperoning a young woman in her charge, Lydia can think of nothing she'd like to do less. Aside from deploring the social inanities of Bath, she fears she'd have to lend guidance to a silly schoolgirl who already has not one suitor but two! It turns out that Phoebe Rae is a sensible, if naive, young woman and the two instantly begin a friendship which makes accepting Lady Eastmond's offer far more palatable. That and the fact that Lewis Durrant is finally going to choose a bride. The spoils of his riches are due to be inherited by his dissipated nephew, Hugh Hanley, but Lewis has other ideas.
Ideas that include begetting a few progeny that will put an end to Hugh's profligate ways, and there's only one way to do that (well, in Regency England anyway). Hugh spends Lewis's money on the assumption he's going to get it eventually anyway. So, the Bath marriage market it is. Both Lydia and Lewis have serious doubts as to the other's probable success, so they set a wager on the outcome. £50 to the winner--Lydia if she marries off Miss Rae to the best man, or Lewis if he finds a wife.
An Accomplished Woman is an enjoyable story, one that takes its time getting where it's going. The destination may not be much of a surprise, but that doesn't make the journey any less entertaining. Most of the action takes place in drawing rooms, at dinner parties, excursions in the Bath countryside, or while taking a turn at the Pump Room. What really carries the story are the witty conversations, and sparkling repartee, of which there is plenty. This is just an all around fun read, not too taxing, but still very clever in how he manages to pay homage to Jane Austen--both the characters she created and the stories she told.