Set in stifling Victorian days, this boundary-breaking tale of two classes proves an enjoyable read. A village girl who became a lady's maid has taken her leave to marry, but at the last minute she bows out and returns to London to fulfil her life's wish of designing dresses for wealthy ladies. In order to set herself up in a shop she will need a loan, and that's where the real trouble starts.

In MISS MOLLY ROBBINS DESIGNS A SEDUCTION her employer's older brother, Carver Danforthe, is an Earl and given to dissipation. He's still drunk when he signs a contract to loan Molly money. The girl has made good use of her time, learnt to read and sew, and doesn't wish to end in an early grave like her mother who bore eleven children. Somehow Carver would rather the mousy chit stay around town, though he doesn't entirely approve of servants learning to read and getting above their station.

Once he gets out to the shabbier streets, Carver takes note of urchins, including a promising stable-boy, and he decides that if Molly is to make a return on his investment, she needs customers. A dressmaker cannot approach a lady directly, but both Carver and his sister put recommendations Molly's way. Needing to dress more stylishly, Molly starts to blossom. Carver experiences more attraction to the creative, determined girl than he would have allowed himself to feel toward one of his own servants. There's a stop to his gallop however - written there in the contract. No Tomfoolery!

I think it's high time that a romance showed a class barrier being crossed for reasons other than impoverished estates and wealthy mill-owning families. Author Jayne Fresina has delved into the fashions of the day, the gigot sleeves and broad collars as well as the stays and tippets. She depicts Carver as a quiet reformer, sending London guttersnipes to be taught a trade on his country estate. There is more than a touch of Shaw's 'Pygmalion' in Carver's protestation that Molly is an ingrate of the lower classes; like Henry Higgins, he is all bluster. Molly can't admit to being jealous of his lordship's loose women but cherishes her independence. She's a charming heroine and I also liked the variety of secondary characters, the easy banter and entertaining frolics.

MISS MOLLY ROBBINS DESIGNS A SEDUCTION is both an adult romance and a comedy of manners, a fine read indeed.