FORTHCOMING 2024
Volume II of the Alverstones
Alverstone
“If Georgette Heyer wrote Gone With the Wind… Alverstone is a slam dunk historical family saga that has it all: romance, villainy, humor, and adventure, set against a backdrop of glittering balls, sprawling estates, and the battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars. For the purists among us, author Beatrice Knight delivers a Regency setting up there with the best ever written…” Review: Meredith Thompson, REGENCY CHRONICLE
A man in possession of £12,000 a year and his own teeth is not to be sneered at.
After five failed London Seasons, Charlotte Winford is past being picky. She has enraptured a gouty squire with a pig-farming empire. Admittedly, he is no Adonis and has a horror of educated women, but it’s not raining suitors in the ballrooms of 1813.
Only duty would induce war-hardened Jasper Alverstone to attend an Almack’s ball. The most hunted matrimonial prize in England, he is not above skulking in dark corners to avoid ambitious mamas. Unfortunately, he is now head of his illustrious family and must honor his father’s will, even if it means marrying an insufferable heiress who loathes him.
No sooner has that lady thrown his dance offer in his face when he overhears some sapskull making the world’s worst marriage proposal. Nearly flattened by its fleeing recipient, Jasper is stunned to recognize a country damsel he saved from ruin seven years ago–gallantry that almost cost him his life.
With old scores to settle and secrets to hide, Jasper and Charlotte form an uneasy alliance that will alter their lives forever. Alverstone is a sprawling historical saga in the tradition of Belva Plain, Rosamunde Pilcher and other great storytellers.
FEATURED REVIEW
I’ve kissed a few frogs hoping to find a Regency novel with Georgette Heyer’s wit and mastery of the era, but a more contemporary feel. And here it is. Crisper, pacier, more accessible than Heyer. Alverstone is a big, delicious family saga that transports readers to a lushly detailed Regency setting as we follow the fortunes of an ensemble cast of memorable characters from above and below stairs. Lucky me – I got to read a pre-publication copy!
Ms. Knight weaves a clever, believable plot that keeps us guessing how the story will play out till the very last chapters. Heroine, Charlotte Winford is torn between passion and practicality. The developing romance between her and (be-still-my-heart) Jasper Alverstone is a relentless slow burn that deepens and teases, but Charlotte is not a 21st century miss doing Regency cosplay. In her situation, the dashing Major Braxted, also a hottie, seems like a more suitable choice of husband. What to do!
Regency territory is so familiar and well trodden, I had forgotten what it’s like to read a story that does not feel like a remix of every other novel in the genre. Alverstone is unique and compelling. The story touched me on levels I don’t expect of Regencies. I cried into my rack punch more than once and suffered withdrawal when I had to return to 21st century reality. Imagine Downton Abbey meets War and Peace. Escapism doesn’t get any better!
Alyshia McKay, The Regency Reading & Afternoon Tea Society, Wellington NZ.
A Word from the Author
Writing Alverstone was a labor of love. On paper, the process began during 2016, when I mapped out a three-volume trilogy telling the story of two families – the Winfords and the Alverstones – who become entwined through love and war during the Regency era. In my mind, however, the story had been percolating since high school days. My mother was big on historical fiction and, being a kid without television, I read voraciously and became fascinated by the Regency era: the fashions, the Peninsula Wars, the War of 1812, and the cultural upheaval of the early 19th century.
As I worked on my story, I did the kind of in-depth research that floats my skirt and created the All Things Regency blog on this website to share some of my notes. I finally completed all 176,000 words of Alverstone late in 2022, and am now busy writing Volume 2.
