Kirkus
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A late-in-life romance offers a second chance at love to childhood sweethearts. Clarissa Ware, the Dowager Countess of Stratton, has come home to the family estate of Ravenswood to decide what she wants from life as her 50th birthday nears and her children are grown. Matthew Taylor, her childhood friend, had receded to a distant acquaintance for decades, as was dictated by her married state. Also widowed, he is now a social yet solitary carpenter who has made peace with his own losses, including that of a stillborn baby. When Clarissa commissions him to craft a crib for her grandchild, she also asks if they might renew their old tie now that they’re both alone. While their connection is rekindled quickly, the difference in their stations incites gossip in the neighborhood and trepidation in her family. Matthew also has to decide if his detachment—learned through meditation at a monastery in the Himalayas—represents true happiness or a way to avoid the risks of intimacy. Dramatizing complex human emotions within a romance plot is a classic feature of Balogh’s novels. She alternates her older protagonists’ inner monologues with scenes of their time together, memories of past injuries, and social gatherings involving a vast array of characters. The result is a layered, slow-moving story best read in a reflective mood. A Regency romance that is light on sexuality and heavy on sentiment and self-assessment. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.