Marah Farnsworth was so in love with Caleb Talbot that she spent the night with him. She knows his secret shame and offered him solace and understanding. Then he leaves and disappears. For two years, there is no word.

Marah buries herself in a small town seeking to overcome the shame and humiliation she feels. She only returns to London at the request of her best friend, Victoria. She doesn't expect to meet Caleb or for her feelings about him to return. Marah agreed to return in the hopes of finding a husband, someone safe.

Caleb learns the truth of his parentage and sets out to drown his sorrows in every vice. Only the poor health of the man he once called his father and the pleadings of his brother will prompt his return to his family and London. Now, Caleb will be forced to deal with everything he once sought to escape.

A big fan of Ms. Petersen's, I was really looking forward to this book. My disappointment was in the characters and their behavior. Instead of dealing with his emotions, Caleb left his family and Marah to wallow in his feeling of betrayal. His seeming disregard of the emotions of others around him made him an unsympathetic character for me. I didn't understand why almost everyone around him continued to be so sympathetic and gentle with him. I wanted to shake him and tell him to work it out so he could get on with life.

Caleb didn't seem to understand that his entire family was affected by his behavior and that he didn't need to be alone. The fact that he could leave the woman he claimed to love so much and expose her to public humiliation added to my disenchantment.