A Winter Chase

Two households sit at the center of this Regency romance: a family that has grown rich in the wool trade and is climbing the social ladder, and an old landed family that must give up its place to make way for them. The young people of both households find themselves caught in the middle.

Julia Fletcher is the least noticed of the Fletcher daughters. She has no great beauty, wit, or polished accomplishments to recommend her, but she has a knack for trouble and rarely gets through a day without breaking, spilling, or tearing something. Her stepmother is often driven to despair by her. Julia's hopes for the new house are modest: a large estate where she can roam freely and, with luck, stay out of mischief.

James Plummer, the younger son of a baronet short of money, has had to sell the family's grand house to the newcomers. He takes the loss in stride. As the local clergyman, he lives comfortably at the rectory, leaving the tedious work of the parish to his curate so he can spend his days shooting or fishing. Still, he finds his routine, his relations, and his neighbours very tame, and he wonders whether the Fletchers might bring some excitement to the district. Julia, outspoken and unafraid to say what she thinks, may prove exactly the disruption he is hoping for, perhaps more than anyone's composure can bear.

This is a complete, standalone story with a happy ending. It is a traditional Regency romance in which the courtship takes place in polite company rather than the bedchamber. The gentle daughter of the Fletcher family, whose beauty could open the way to a still greater prize, a place among the nobility, adds another thread to the story. It is the first of six books in its series.