Miss Thornrose and the Rake is a delightful surprise. I’ve been disappointed with most of the new trad authors lately, so finding an author I can get genuinely excited about is all the more satisfying. Originally published five years ago by Five Star, it was likely missed by many readers of traditional Regencies (myself included). Now the book is getting the wider audience it deserves.

The Thornrose family has a proud tradition of good works which reaches back centuries and is dutifully recorded in a family record book. Wealthy and well-established, the Thornroses have nonetheless chosen to eschew ton life. Instead they aid the poor and provide a voice for the downtrodden. Verity Thornrose is like her progenitors. She serves on various reform committees and gives time and money to charities. One night the course of her life changes when she helps rescue a distressed Irish serving girl. The rescue sets up a chain of events which change Verity from determined spinster to adoring fiancée of a former rake, Alaric Tierney, Earl of Brathmere.

The hapless serving girl, Deirdre, seems to set herself up for disaster after disaster. Deirdre had been turned out on the street after the master of the house got a little too friendly with her, and she fell into the clutches of the notorious White Willie, who traffics in everything from petty crime to prostitution and slavery. Verity rescues Deirdre from the streets, but Willie is determined to recover her. Deirdre begins work as a maid in Verity’s home, and she’s quite happy at first. But she is also naïve, and finds herself easy prey for flatterers. One night her former employer convinces her to go to a masquerade. She sneaks off with him, only to find that the glamorous event she had envisioned is actually a sleazy Cyprian’s ball. To make matters worse, her former master is on the verge of giving her to White Willie to satisfy a gaming debt. She is saved at the last minute by Verity, who had come in search of her. However, Verity had no idea what sort of establishment she was entering. She brought no money, so she had to beg for the entrance fee from a man outside. The naïve Verity had no clue that this was tantamount to agreeing to have sex with him.

The bemused man who paid her way is Alaric Tierney. Just as Verity’s family has a tradition of good works, Alaric’s family has a long-standing tradition of debauchery. He is widely known as a fighter of duels and seducer of married women, and he finds himself oddly fascinated by this strange-looking Cyprian in a wholesome gray dress. Verity leaves without even giving her name, and Alaric doggedly pursues every avenue he can think of to discover her whereabouts. He is shocked to discover her in the last place he would have expected – his cousin’s come-out ball.

Verity is at the ball as chaperone for an impoverished relative who needs to marry well. It’s not her usual milieu, but it falls under the “good works” banner, so she reluctantly agrees to do it. Alaric immediately seeks her out, which greatly distresses her. She’s worried that he will tell others of her inappropriate appearance at the masquerade, but she’s also disconcerted by her reaction to him, which is like nothing she’s ever experienced. They begin a courtship of sorts. Alaric’s intentions are somewhat suspect, but he just can’t keep away from Verity. Verity is disarmed by Alaric and knows his reputation to be terrible, yet she can’t help enjoying his company, and even begins to rely on him to help her with problems in her life. Unfortunately, the couple has a deadly enemy in Verity’s cousin, Octavian. Octavian has taken the religious views of the Thornrose family to a dangerous extreme, and he is outraged to see his long-term plan to marry Verity thwarted. Verity and her family underestimate the extent of his zealotry, much to their detriment.

If this all sounds complicated, that’s because it is. There are other important characters and events that I haven’t even touched on. Happily, while the plot is complicated and intricate, it is never convoluted. There is always a lot going on, but I had no trouble keeping the cast or the various events straight. Burrows manipulates it all with a deft hand and sure timing, creating a read that’s as intelligent as it is fun. When I first opened the book, I couldn’t help noticing the fun chapter names. Chapters feature titles like: “Enter the Alarming Octavian Smythe,” “In Which the Earl of Brathmere Is Amazed to Find Himself Doing Several Good Deeds,” and (my personal favorite) “Too Full of Adventure to be Briefly Described.” These are a good tip off that the book is clever, and it definitely lives up to that promise. There are few qualities I appreciate as much as cleverness in a book.

At first I thought that Alaric was your everyday average rake. Surely there are as many “rake is changed by the love of a good woman” books as there are stars in the sky. Admittedly, that aspect of the plot did not seem as fresh as, say, the ongoing escapades of the Irish serving girl. Yet the author still pulls it off without making the character seem stale. One reason it works is that Alaric is a little edgier than the average rake. He’s no rake-in-name-only whose flirted a couple of times; he’s killed people in duels. It’s always a little tough to strike the balance between “fake rake” and “utterly self absorbed jerk,” but the author does an excellent job of it here. His change of heart is believable because he changes in a natural way. He’s true to himself – just a little more mellow. This is demonstrated fabulously in a scene near the end of the book where Alaric is required to come to the rescue. He does it, but not in the way you’d expect.

Octavian also deserves special mention. Creating a good villain is pretty difficult. I often struggle to fill the “best villain” category on our yearly favorites ballot, simply because so many of them seem interchangeable, in that hokey-campy “I’m so eeeeevil” way. Octavian, on the other hand, is truly chilling in his warped fanaticism. The author juxtaposes his views with Verity’s and shows how the same basic mission can go dangerously awry.

Over all, this is one of the most entertaining Regencies I’ve read in years. I hope it gets the wide readership it deserves, and I sincerely hope that Signet is planning on reprinting the sequel, Miss Sedgewick and the Spy as well. For trad readers, this book is a happy find indeed.