To me, a Regency Romance should be clever, witty, and sweet. A good Regency should also portray a woman who is bound by the constraints of society, but who manages to express her true nature in spite of them. A truly memorable Regency is one that manages to move me emotionally in spite of its brevity. A Lady of Letters by Andrea Pickens does all these things.

The Earl of Sheffield is your typical handsome rake, except that within his well-tailored breast beats the heart of a reformer. He fears becoming a mockery of Society if he speaks his mind publicly, but he begins an anonymous correspondence with a man known Firebrand, who crusades for social change. (Sheffield signs his letters “Tinder.”) Through this correspondence, Sheffield and Firebrand become close friends.

Meanwhile Sheffield continues his dissolute ways, and runs afoul of a sharp-tongued termagant named Augusta Hadley. In spite of her large dowry, Augusta is far too unconventional to attract a husband on the Marriage Mart, and the very first time she meets Sheffield she calls him an pompous ass. He responds just as sharply, and from that time on their relationship proceeds at sword-point.

Of course, we know that Firebrand is Augusta and Tinder is Sheffield, but Augusta and Sheffield don’t figure that out for quite a while. They go on putting each other down face-to-face, while confiding their hopes and fears to one another in letters. This device is skillfully pulled off by the author – I never thought to myself, “Come on, guys, it’s so obvious!” It was far from obvious, and the eventual revelation was satisfyingly shocking for both.

Augusta falls deeply in love with Tinder, while thinking that the real Sheffield is nothing but a shallow, dissolute rake. Sheffield deeply admires and respects Firebrand (who, of course, he thinks is a man), but assumes that Augusta could not possibly have the education or intelligence to be his equal in any way. The way these two sort out their complex feelings of love and disdain is interesting and very moving. Meanwhile, the two (along with their letter-writing alter-egos) hunt for a mysterious villain, a subplot that gives shape and purpose to the love story.

It would have been even more moving if we had seen more of the correspondence between Sheffield and Augusta. We are told that they achieved a rare meeting of minds, but we don’t really see that in the snippets of letters provided. Also, the suspense subplot was a thin and rickety structure that ended in that clichéd scene in which the odious villain triumphantly tells all. It gave our characters something to talk about, but it could have been more.

Still, I recommend A Lady of Letters without reservation. Andrea Pickens is developing quite a fan base among AAR’s reviewers – if this book is a representative example of her work, I can understand why. A Lady of Letters gave me the happy glow I get when two people I really like find happiness.