ABOUT THE BOOK
Isabelle Rackham knows she will not marry for love. Though arranged marriages have fallen out of fashion, hers has been settled for some time to combine the upper-middle-class wealth of her father's coal mines with Alexander Osgood's prospering Northern country textile mills. Though not a man prone to romantic gestures, Alexander is well-known as an eligible bachelor. His good looks have turned more than one head, so Isabelle is content to think of herself as Alexander's wife.
However, her marriage is not what she expected. Northern England is nothing like her home farther west in the lake country. Cold, dreary, and dark, the soot from the textile mills creates a gray hue that seems to cling to everything in the city of Manchester. Alexander is distant and aloof, preferring to spend his time at the mill rather than with her at home. Their few conversations are brief, polite, and lacking any emotion, leaving Isabelle lonely and desperately homesick.
Sensing his wife's unhappiness, Alexander suggests a trip to his country estate. Isabelle hopes this will be an opportunity to get to know her new husband without the distractions of his business. But the change of scenery doesn't bring them any closer. While riding together on horses, Alexander is thrown from his and becomes paralyzed. Tragedy or destiny? The help and care that Alexander now needs is Isabelle's opportunity to forge a connection and create a deep and romantic love where nothing else could.
REVIEW
This tender story of growing love in the face of tragic and difficult circumstances touched my heart in a lot of ways. Isabelle knows little about her new husband other than that he runs a successful mill and there marriage will benefit both him and her father. She hopes over time that she and Alexander can form a good relationship. What she didn't expect was his cold politeness and feelings constantly alone in a polluted and unknown city. Her only solace is the friendship she strikes up with the wife and daughter of one of Alexander's business managers. But after a trip to the countryside results in a terrible accident that leaves him unable to move much things get even more complicated. Isabelle's efforts to help to husband as well as find a place for herself in her new home made for compelling reading. Isabelle's goodness made her easy to cheer for as she tried to establish a relationship with her husband. Alexander is hard to connect with at first until, through Isabelle's eyes, I started to see the reasons for his behavior. The couple's struggles with both Alec's injury and the other consequences of it made for a thoroughly engaging read. I appreciated the details about Manchester and the mill business as well. Those kind of historical details helped the story come to life in a vivid way. All in all a delightful, sympathetic romance with the kind of details and emotion that I enjoy.
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