Love and the Downfall of Society

by Melinda Copp

Overview

After turning society upside down with her debut story, provincial Charlotte Deveraux arrives in Paris poised for literary stardom. She's not sure where her next rent payment will come from, but she's determined to make a name for herself as a respected writer in the cultural capital of the world.

Antoine de Larminet is the last surviving son of an aristocratic family. In line to inherit a title, he has promised his parents that he'll marry a peer and carry on the centuries-old tradition. He was raised in an antiquated world where love was often found outside of arranged society marriages. Even as the French aristocracy is losing relevance to modernity, Antoine never questioned this commitment to this family legacy--until his chance meeting with clever and beautiful Charlotte.

Their attraction is immediate, and the more they bump into each other at the clubs and salons of Paris, the stronger their attachment grows. But Antoine can't marry Charlotte because she's as proletarian as they come. And Charlotte will lose all credibility as a writer and social critic if she becomes the mistress of an aristocrat.

The world around them is changing, but if love is to win, one of them will have to give up everything they stand for. This historical romantic comedy will appeal to readers who like a slow burn with forbidden love and rich guy poor girl romance tropes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781964546001
Publisher:	Tiny Piano Press
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Melinda Copp is a writer based in South Carolina. Her work has been published in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals, including HuffPost, The Rumpus, and The Petigru Review. This is the first of her series of historical romance novels set during the Belle Époque.

Editorial Reviews

2024-09-16
The class system impedes love in Copp’s historical romance, set in Paris during the Belle Époque era.

Charlotte Devereaux, the daughter of bookshop owners, leaves the small French town of Vernon for Paris. Her goal is to become a writer, but after she finds initial success, publishers reject her subsequent stories. The city is exciting, but she’s unsure how she’ll pay the rent for her boardinghouse room. By contrast, Antoine de Larminet leads a life of ease; he has a valet and rides in a carriage, and his days include visits to nightclubs and parties. Copp’s description of her characters’ hands illustrate their class difference: Antoine’s are “clean and neatly manicured,” while Charlotte’s are stained with ink. The two fall in love soon after they meet at a cabaret in Montmartre. Antoine doesn’t believe in old-fashioned ideas about the superiority of the aristocracy, but ever since his brothers’ untimely deaths, his parents expect him to honor and uphold their traditions by marrying within his class. Antoine thinks he’s found the perfect solution: He can wed an open-minded aristocrat and ask Charlotte to be his mistress. To his surprise, Charlotte isn’t amenable to this arrangement; she wants “the fairy tale or nothing.” Copp competently captures the trappings of this turn-of-the-century time period; Charlotte drinks champagne at a cabaret in Montmartre that features marionette shows, and she visits the Moulin Rouge, with its clowns and can-can dancers. The author’s two main characters write letters to each other that are convincingly flowery (“It seems Paris and my life achieve full color only in your company”). However, some of the story’s language and ideas feel anachronistic, as when Antoine wonders why his parents are in a hurry to marry him off (“It wasn’t as if his biological clock was ticking”) and Charlotte’s roommate asks her, “Thinking of getting into mistressing?” Members of the aristocracy also take surprising positions, including supporting public transit and sharing profits with farmers working their land. Still, everything’s a backdrop to the romance, which does generate some real steam.

A fine tale for readers who enjoy love stories with modern sensibilities in old-fashioned settings.

Kirkus Reviews