Idle Nature

A Gilded Age tale of science, humor, and love, told through side-by-side journal entries.

A summer holiday to Newport has put Miss Anne Bennet in the same house with the perfect specimen for her scientific study into the mating habits of the idle rogue: Mr. Valentine Reed, a handsome flirt with a rakish reputation.

Val finds Newport insufferably boring, but can't help but be curious about the young woman who is always scribbling in a notebook. And when she asks him to help her sneak out at ni...