Jack of Hearts

Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility provides a reference point for the way in which the protagonist, Anne Heriot, and her companion, Sarah Wheeler, approach matrimony and affairs of the heart. It isn't that Anne, a very wealthy independent textile heiress, is heartless or cold, but she refuses to be ruled by her emotions. It is time for her to marry, and in accordance with her late-father's wishes, she intends to marry into the peerage. With care she winnows drunkards, gamblers, and rakes from her list of prospects and comes up with three men who meet her requirements. She sets out over the course of the Little Season, and the Season to make her final choice.

All three of her prospects are good men who have a great need for Anne's money, show more but as the story develops we learn that only one of the suitors is heart-whole. Though Anne chooses first with her head, she doesn't ignore her heart. She finally makes her choice, and the dynamics between her and her new fiance are beautifully drawn.

The early days of Anne's betrothal to Jack Beldon, Viscount Aldborough (along with what has come before) ensures that their marriage will be a satisfying partnership of minds and hearts.

In a secondary plot, Sarah Wheeler gives us the Marianne Dashwood , or sensibility, approach to finding romantic fulfilment. Sarah is the granddaughter of a Viscount--much good it has done her! She is in her 30s and without financial resources. She has been close to Anne for years, first as her governess and later as a companion. She is far above Anne, a Cit, on the social scale, as Anne is above her financially. Sarah finds herself approaching a crossroads. When Anne marries, Sarah will be looking for a new position. She has dismissed matrimony as a possibility as she has neither money, nor connections. She forms an attachment to an unlikely and unsuitable man, allowing her heart to rule her head as Marianne Dashwood did before her. Happily, with far less heartache.

This sequel to Red, Red Rose centers on a textile heiress, Anne Heriot, and the former Captain Jack Belden, Viscount Aldborough. Thinking back over this well-drawn, well-executed story, I was struck by the positive impact that Anne Heriot had on her world and the people she encountered. Sometimes her actions were lavish, and other times they were rather small, but she went through life making it better for those whose lives she touched, from the "blind" veteran she saves from beggary, to the magnificent deed she does for one of her former suitors, what she does (and plans to do) for the textile workers at one of her mills, she is making the world a better place. --And she found the right man to work alongside her to carry on the work. show less