Lauren Edgeworth, the perfect bride and countess-to-be, is set to marry her childhood friend, Neville Wyatt, the Earl of Kilbourne. It’s the day all her dreams are going to come true. Her happiness is such that she herself wonders if anyone has the right to be so deliriously happy. And at this very moment of happiness, a tired, disheveled women walks into the church, claiming to be Neville’s wife….Lily.
Lily…Lily, once an innocent little girl, a commoner, the daughter of a soldier in Neville’s company, is secretly in love with him. But knows that Major Lord Newbury (Neville) is far above her reach. So she travels with her father’s company and becomes Major Lord Newbury’s friend and confidante. When her father is injured in battle and dying, Neville promises him that he would look after her daughter, he would marry her. Thus she gets married to the man she has loved for so long and follows their one night of love…one night of love which is a transcendent experience for him as well as her but after she is shot before his eyes in the ambush that leaves him unconscious, he accepts that she is dead. Heartbroken by the loss, when he receives the news of his father’s death Neville returns home to do his duty as the Earl of Neville.
Neville is about to marry his step-cousin Lauren, Lauren whose sweet countenance commands love and affection of any man. Its his wedding today. He is embarking on a future that was planned long ago for him, by his father. Becoming the earl of Kilbourne and marrying his step cousin Lauren, a fate he should not have tried to avoid by running off to join the army. A fate to which life had given him a second chance…A second chance he was not about to let go of….and that’s when Lily walks into the church. Lily, his wife. Lily, his countess. Lily, whose love and innocence was so precious to him and Lily….Lily who was dead. His heart soars with joy on seeing Lily, his Lily, alive. Lily tells him her story, of her journey from the dream-like innocence of their wedding to the ugly, brutality and captivity by the Spanish who kidnapped her when he thought she was dead in the ambush. The Spanish who raped her repeatedly till she had escaped their clutches. But none of this deters Neville from hoping that he and Lily can have a life together.
Unfortunately, building that life will not be easy. Lily, a commoner, is hopelessly out of place at Newbury Abbey. Not only is she a social misfit, but her unfettered love of nature and the intensity of her experiences leave her with little patience for the vapid society that is her husband's birthright. She feels that she can never be worthy of being his countess. In her mind, she is always Lily Doyle….and he is always Major Lord Newbury, and they are happy in their little life together. The Earl of Kilbourne is a stranger to her, a stranger who belongs with someone beautiful, charming, sophisticated and competent as Lauren, not someone illiterate, ignorant and wild as her. As time passes it becomes a question of whether she wants to be another Lauren just to fit in? The question changes from if she will fit in to if she wants to fit in? And that’s when she decides to leave Neville again…..
Neville loves Lily. He loves her as she is. A little wild, ignorant, innocent, untouched by the pretenses the world puts on. And a little because of his selfishness to keep her that way and a lot out of love for her, he doesn’t want her to struggle to keep up with the expectations people have from her….to become the perfect countess…But the expectations, the feeling of failure does get to Lily. Feeling caged, confined and depressed, Lily decides to leave him to make an emotional journey towards her wholeness…alone. Leaving him alone.
The best part about this story is that no character is perfect. There’s Lauren who is so sympathetic to both Neville and Lily, and yet so sad and lonely that it at times makes the reader begrudge Lily her happiness. Lily, whose emotional turmoil brings tears to the eyes and whose emotional triumph makes your insides smile. Neville who sympathizes with Lauren, understands her pain but is in love with Lily. So much in love that he is prepared to go through a life without her….a lifetime of waiting for her to come back to him. And though all these characters have their own imperfections its so difficult not to fall in love with them.
Rich with emotional and historical detail, it is a story of compassion and gravity told with simplicity. Neither is the emotional aftermath or turmoil sensationalized and trivialized. It is simply narrated and it is left to the readers to feel the anguish, the happiness and the triumph of the characters. A romantic tale with the perfect touch of a classic. A perfect 10/10 book.
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