The Elopement

**Set amongst the luxury and poverty of late Victorian England, Tracy Rees's The Elopement is an elaborately imagined historical romance, full of delight and temptation. 'A beautiful book. Powerful and captivating, the story will transport you to another time and place, plunging you headlong into the lives of its characters' – Hazel Prior, author of Away with the Penguins** A wealthy heiress . . . 1897. Rowena Blythe is wealthy, entitled and beautiful. As her twenty-fourth birthday approaches, she’s expected to marry – and to marry well. An unsuitable match . . . Her parents commission a portrait of Rowena to help cement her reputation as a great society beauty. However, Bartek, the artist’s young assistant, is unlike any man Rowena has met before – wild, romantic and Bohemian. While society at large awaits the announcement of Rowena’s engagement, it is Bartek who captures Rowena’s heart along with her likeness. A scandal in society . . . Rowena knows her parents would never approve of Bartek, who in their eyes is nothing but a penniless foreigner. As her feelings grow, she has no-one to turn to. Dare she risk everything for love? **Praise for Tracy Rees: ‘A natural storyteller’ – Rachel Hore, author of One Moonlit Night ‘Tracy has a rare gift for creating characters you are rooting for from the first page’ – Gill Paul, author of The Manhattan Girls ‘Has such a talent for writing engaging characters who stay with you’ – Hazel Gaynor, author of The Girl Who Came Home ‘Tracy Rees is at the height of her game’ – Rebecca Griffiths, author of The Girl at My Door**