Tessa La Prelle, a scullery maid in 1903 London, dreams of a life better than her own. She finds an object for her fantasies in a local gallery - the work of Regency artist Giles Longworth. His brooding self-portrait is fascinating, but not as intriguing as the scandalously beautiful painting called The Bride of Time.
When a false accusation sends Tessa running, she never dreams that she will flee from the bobbies straight into the carriage of Giles himself. Before she can fully understand what has happened, she is bundled off to Longworth Abbey as governess to Giles' ward, the incorrigible young Master Monty.
Giles Longworth has problems of his own, Master Monty chief among them. There have been murders on the Cornish moors, his own unfaithful wife included, and rumours of werewolves. He has his own suspicions. When Tessa shows up on his doorstep, he's not inclined to ask where she came from. She is a godsend - a help with the problem of his ward, and the perfect inspiring model for his newest painting - The Bride of Time.
With the full moon on the rise, the plot is about to thicken.
Dawn Thompson's new book is a triumph, a delicate balance between the dark sensuality of the gothic romance, and the hedonistic gaiety of the Regency, the complexity of time travel, and the mystery of shape shifting. Her characters are multidimensional and realistic, her setting captures the imagination, and her story is gripping. I couldn't put it down. The literary community has lost a great talent in Ms. Thompson, yet her writing will live on.
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