Friday, January 18, 2008

CONSEQUENCES OF SIN by Clare Langley-Hawthorne (Penguin)

All modern women need to be reminded now and again of the women who came before us--those who lobbied for women's rights. Ursula Marlow is a daughter of privilege in 1910 London, but she's also Oxford educated and a member of the Women's Social and Political Union. When she gets a middle-of-the-night phone call from a WSPU friend, she knows it's trouble. Finding the naked body of one's lover in one's bed is indeed trouble. Ursula does the only thing she can think of that will help Freddie--she calls in her father's business advisor and King's Counsel Lord Oliver Wrotham. Just getting an attorney doesn't help Freddie because Ursula is the only one who believes her friend is innocent. Ursula's fight to free Freddie takes her on an arduous adventure which brings to light wrongs from long ago and twisted relationships that continue over time. Overlaying the contorted mystery is the enormous struggle for women's rights.

Readers who enjoyed Miriam Grace Monfredo's series tracing the US women's rights movement from the Senecca Falls conference will relish Langley-Hawthorne's work.

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