Book description
Season of Light begins in 1788, in the heady days just before the
French revolution, when Paris is fizzing with new ideas about liberty
and equality. Asa Ardleigh, the impressionable 19-year-old daughter of a
country squire, has traveled to the city with her older sister,
Philippa, and Philippa's new husband. In Paris, they are introduced to
the literary salon of Madame de Genlis. It is in this salon that Asa
meets, and falls in love with, a dashing intellectual and idealist,
Didier Paulin. Their affair is curtailed when Asa is forced to return to
England, but they continue to write as the storm clouds gather over
France and war with England seems imminent. Meanwhile back at home, no
one knows of Asa's liaison. Asa's middle sister, Georgina, has met Harry
Shackleford, the most eligible man in London that season, and to whom
the Ardleigh estate is entailed. After the death of their mother, the
Ardleigh girls' father began to drink heavily and now the estate is
nearly bankrupt. In Shackleford, Georgina sees not only a fortuitous
marriage for her sister, but also the solution to their financial woes.
However Asa's accomplishments need some polishing. Georgina therefore
employs Madame de Rusigneux, a French Marquise. Asa soon discovers there
is more to this woman than meets the eye... Katharine McMahon studied
English and Drama at Bristol University. She has worked as a teacher in
schools and universities, as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow supporting
student writing, and has run national training courses. She is involved
with local theatre and lives with her family in Hertfordshire. Visit her
website at katharinemcmahon. com
