The Reckoning

In the Morland Dynasty series, the majestic sweep of English history is richly and movingly portrayed through the fictional lives of the Morland family. It is 1816, and Napoleon has been defeated at last, but victory brings no peace to England. The cost of war has been devastating. Inflation rages, bankruptcies multiply, and many of the ruined flee to the continent, including that symbol of the age just past, Beau Brummell. Discharged soldiers swell the ranks of the unemployed, wages tumble and the bread price soars. It is a tinderbox which takes only a spark to flame into riot. James and Heloise stand guard over Morland Place, but a tragic accident takes the one person they depend on. A devastating scandal brings the Morland name into the glare of public notoriety with a trial in the House of Lords. And Sophie and Rosamund each have to learn the difference between real love and its enticing but dangerous illusion.