The Elopement

Tracy Rees's latest novel The Elopement is an elaborately imagined historical novel full of delight and temptation, spanning the luxury and poverty of late Victorian England. A wealthy heiress . . . 1897. Rowena Blythe is wealthy, entitled and beautiful. As her twenty-fourth birthday approaches, she’s expected to marry – and to marry well. An unsuitable match . . . Her parents commission a portrait of Rowena to help cement her reputation as a great society beauty. However, Bartek, the artist’s young assistant, is unlike any man Rowena has met before – wild, romantic and Bohemian. While society at large awaits the announcement of Rowena’s engagement, it is Bartek who captures Rowena’s heart along with her likeness. A scandal in society . . . Rowena knows her parents would never approve of Bartek, who in their eyes is nothing but a penniless foreigner. As her feelings grow, she has no-one to turn to. Dare she risk everything for love? Praise for Tracy Rees: ‘a natural storyteller . . .’ – Rachel Hore ‘Tracy has a rare gift for creating characters you are rooting for from the first page’ – Gill Paul ‘has such a talent for writing engaging characters who stay with you’ – Hazel Gaynor ‘Tracy Rees is at the height of her game’ – Rebecca Griffiths