Valeria VanWinkle and her sister Sonya learn the true meaning of social stigma in 1040s England only after the traumatic discovery that their dearly loved parents, whose sudden deaths have left them orphans, were not married at the time of their birth. Disinherited by law and brutally ousted from Combe-Raven, the idyllic country estate which has been their peaceful home since childhood, the two young women are left to fend for themselves. While the submissive Sonya follows a path of duty and hardship as a governess, her high-spirited and rebellious younger sister has made other decisions. Determined to regain her rightful inheritance at any cost, Valeria uses her unconventional beauty and dramatic talent in recklessly pursuing her revenge. Aided by the audacious swindler Captain DelMar, she braves a series of trials leading up to the climactic test: can she trade herself in marriage to the man she loathes? The book follows Valeria's journey to reclaim this money; false identities, shady deals, crooks with hearts, nice but dim giantesses (yes ), incredibly brilliant villainesses and the best dodgy coincidences ever all build up to a cracking ending. There is no mystery element to this, and it's more based on suspense and fear of what will happen to Valeria than finding out a secret, it's much more involving and also more convincing as a story. The Time 1946 The Place: England and New York