I’m always hesitant to read gay romances set in the past. I mean, present day couples face enough challenges, but past ones? When being gay was at best banishment to a penal colony or, at worst, death? There are some authors who walk this tightrope brilliantly and I can now add Victoria Sue as one of them. For the entire book she made it clear there would be no happy ending for Tom and Deacon.
And I believed her. Each chapter, each word, brought me closer to what I believed was an inevitable ending that would be tragic. I kept telling myself this was a romance, but I didn’t believe she could pull it off.
When Deacon rescues Tom from The Innocent Auction, he can never have predicted the turn their lives would take. Deacon smuggles Tom from London to the family’s bucolic country estate, and he barely gives the boy another thought until the moment Deacon’s father dies and he inherits the estate. He returns to find a mature Tom and an estate in disrepair. Although he has personal funds, Deacon does not have enough to do all the repairs necessary to bring the estate up to any kind of running order and the entailment ensures he cannot sell the property. Stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place Deacon seeks out the only remedy available to him – marriage to a wealthy young woman.
The attraction between Tom and Deacon is clear, and as much as Deacon recognizes their difference in station, he cannot help how he feels about the young man in his charge. The young man who has reached adulthood, and has grown into a striking man with a big heart. Their coming together is inevitable, their parting likely. Broken heart, anyone?
To layer on the story, Deacon has a friend who is arrested for the very crime he is committing. Man, talk about a brutal storyline. With visits to Newgate and the eventual trial, my heart was in my throat. I wanted things to end well, but I was also keenly aware of the societal expectations as well as the judicial system made that unlikely.
This book seized me from the beginning and held me in its grasps until the end. The ending that I loved. Of course I have to give a shout out to the incomparable Joel Leslie. He always gives a tremendous performance and this one was no exception. His accent always works, but it’s also the nuance he brings to each character that makes his performances so memorable. Needless to say, I suggest everyone listen to this wonderful story.