Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
The Earl is the second book in Katharine Ashe’s Devil’s Duke series (The Rogue is book 1), and is also the last in her Falcon Club series which is not, sadly, available in audio format. Because it refers to a number of characters and events featured in earlier stories, this might not be the best introduction to Ms. Ashe’s work for anyone unfamiliar with it, although it could be listened to as a standalone if you’re prepared to do a bit of homework in advance and perhaps read a few reviews and the synopses of the earlier books.
Throughout the Falcon Club books, the club’s secretary, Peregrine, carried on a public, witty and usually caustic correspondence with Lady Justice, a popular pamphleteer whose passionate outpourings on the subject of political reform and disdain for the injustices wreaked on the masses by the privileged few are a real thorn in the side of the establishment. But at the end of The Rogue, the unthinkable happened. Knowing of the Falcon Club’s expertise at locating missing persons, Lady Justice asked Peregrine for help to locate a young woman who has disappeared.
With the club now disbanded, Peregrine is not averse to one last mission before he takes up the reins of his newly inherited earldom. He agrees to help Lady Justice on one condition; that after their years of anonymous sparring, she must meet him face-to-face.
Lady Emily Vane is an unusual young woman. The eldest daughter of an earl, she has, for the past few years, lived alone with only a few very trusted servants around her. She has no wish to marry and is for the most part content with her lot; devoted to her political causes and her writing, the income she has earned over the years enables her to maintain a separate establishment which is essential if she is to continue to argue for political reform in the guise of her alter ego, Lady Justice. But news that one of her sisters is missing means that she must ask Peregrine for help, a man she loathes and who represents everything she despises about the aristocracy. Yet she’s prepared to swallow her pride for her sister’s sake and agrees to meet him, taking care to cover her face with a thick veil so as to prevent Peregrine from discovering her identity.
Their meeting is as hostile as their written exchanges have been, only serving to reinforce Emily’s belief that Peregrine is a pompous, arrogant, manipulative and self-serving bastard. But it also reveals something else. While she has taken care to conceal her face, Peregrine has not – and Emily is shocked to discover that he is none other than Colin Grey, newly minted Earl of Egremoor, someone she has known all her life – and who broke her heart almost two decades earlier.
The Grays and the Vales were close when Colin and Emily were young, and the families were content to indulge their two somewhat eccentric children and let them spend a lot of time together. Emily was inherently curious about everything, chattering incessantly and asking questions, while Colin was quiet – although equally curious – and was content to let Emily tag along with him wherever he went. The sad truth, though, is that Colin was quiet because he was unable to speak. In the prologue, we are made aware of the way he was treated because of his inability to utter a sound, and of his father’s belief that he must be an imbecile. Worse, the old earl tried to use Colin’s mother to force him to speak, sending her away at intervals as a kind of punishment when even the threat of her removal could not elicit a sound from his son and heir.
When Colin was thirteen and Emily eight, something happened which profoundly changed things between them, and they have been mere nodding acquaintances ever since. The truth of Colin’s and Emily’s past is drip-fed throughout the story and Ms. Ashe does a wonderful job in showing the listener just how deeply each of them was hurt by the sudden ending to their friendship and how those events shaped their lives.
The discovery Emily makes about the identity of her nemesis causes her to rescind her request for his help, and she heads off to Scotland – her sister’s last known location – accompanied by two of her most trusted servants. But on arriving at an inn near Loch Lomond, she is surprised to recognise the deep tones of another newly-arrived guest and realises that Colin has followed leads of his own which have led him to the same place.
Before they can do little more than exchange a few barbed words, however, Colin and Emily discover that they have more to contend with than their frosty mutual dislike. A pair of criminals, wanted for murder and highway robbery, are operating in the area, one of them calling himself the Earl of Egremoor, and the other a younger, fair-haired man who often passes himself of as a woman. Realising this accounts for the suspicion they have encountered from the locals, Colin and Emily are forced to go on the run to avoid capture, making for the Duke of Loch Irvine’s castle at Kallin where the Duke will help get matters straightened out. But their journey won’t be easy. News of the fake earl’s misdeeds have travelled widely, so seeking shelter from the uncertain terrain and inclement weather is risky, as they can’t trust anyone not to turn them in. And while trying not to get caught, starve or simply crumple from exhaustion, Emily is also desperate to keep her alter-ego a secret from the man who stands for everything she hates, but for whom she is beginning to feel a strong attraction.
The Earl contains just about everything one could wish to find in an historical romance. The adventure story is extremely well-constructed and the historical and political background is well-researched and skilfully blended into the story so it never feels as though one is being subjected to a history lesson or unsubtle info-dumps. Best of all, the romance is wonderful. The chemistry which leapt off the page in the correspondence between Peregrine and Lady Justice is intensified here, resulting in some delicious sexual tension; and the love scenes – which are well worth waiting for – are deeply romantic and full of tender affection and intense sensuality. Colin is a gorgeous hero – handsome (naturally!), highly intelligent and deeply honourable, taking his responsibilities – to his family, his tenants and his country – very seriously and wanting to do the best he can for everyone. Emily is rather harder to like, as she retains her blinkers about Colin’s true nature until well into the book, unable to see him for who and what he is, and allowing the prejudices she formed about him as Peregrine to cloud her judgement. But with that said, she’s good-hearted, courageous and big enough to admit to her mistakes, and when she finally reveals her reason for becoming Lady Justice – which brought a lump to my throat – I could just about forgive her for such wilful blindness.
Saskia Maarleveld returns to narrate The Earl and apart from a few minor niggles and the odd mispronunciation, gives a very strong performance. The slightly husky note in her voice is pleasant to the ear, and also lends an attractive quality to her portrayal of Colin, which, added to a slight drop in pitch, makes him sound suitably masculine and quite sexy ;). Emily is strongly characterised, too, her strength of character and intelligence clearly conveyed by the narrator’s no-nonsense style of delivery. Pacing and character differentiation are both good, and although I previously said that Ms. Maarleveld’s Scottish accents tended sometimes to veer away from Scotland and into Ireland, here they’re much more consistent and convincing; and the French accent she employs for Emily’s maid is spot on. My one real criticism of her narration as a whole is that there are a few places where she doesn’t quite hit the right emotional note – mostly in some of the more heated discussions between the central characters. While it’s true that Colin prides himself on his control, the point is that Emily is the one person who can make him lose it, and that doesn’t always come across as strongly as it should. Even so, it’s a strong narration and one I enjoyed overall.
The Earl is one of my favourite books of this year, and it always makes me happy when a favourite book doesn’t disappoint in audio. If you like smart, complex characters in an enemies-to-lovers romance, then you might consider adding it to your wishlist.
[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]
Caz
AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION
TITLE: The Earl
AUTHOR: Katherine Ashe
NARRATED BY: Saskia Maarleveld
GENRE: Historical Romance
STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in
REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M6W62IS/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Earl by Katherine Ashe on Amazon[/button]
