The Illegitimate Duke

Narrator Carolyn Morris sets the scene in London society as Lady Juliette Matthews falls in love Florian Lowell, a physician and heir of the Duke of Redding. Florian battles an outbreak of typhus in the slums of St. Giles. He also becomes aware of a secret: His biological father is a notorious criminal. Morris aptly narrates the story as different characters fall ill, giving their voices a raspy quality as they struggle for breath. The listener expects Florian's father to have a more sinister tone of voice, given his evil plotting to bring harm to Florian, but that is not the case. Still, this is a good listening experience. S.B. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

August 13, 2018
Barnes’s third Diamonds in the Rough Regency (after The Duke of Her Desire) revels in the power of unconditional love. Florian Lowell, a well-respected London physician and recent heir to a dukedom, bemoans his status as a very eligible bachelor. Juliette Matthews, sister of the Duke of Huntley, has admired Florian for his skills as a physician, and is somewhat surprised by her attraction to him at a London ball. Juliette soon becomes a committee member at St. Agatha’s Hospital, where Florian works, and donates a sizable sum to stop the spread of typhus. But Florian tries to resist his attraction to the beautiful Juliette, believing that he has been tainted by his notorious father’s crimes. When Juliette contracts typhus while nursing a friend, Florian takes her into his home to care for her and realizes that he can no longer ignore his love for her. Barnes’s fast-paced novel is complete with ever-present sizzling sexual tension between Florian and Juliette, whose romance is counterbalanced by the realism of medical advances of the times.