This historical romance of class barriers starts with a young lady running away from her country home. Always resented by her spiteful mother, she has been downtrodden and denigrated. The worm has turned, as they used to say, because on hearing that a marriage is being arranged for her, young Sophia becomes HIS RUNAWAY LADY.

Fell Barden is a half-Romany blacksmith, accepted in the village because of his trade but not one of the people. He finds Sophia Somerlock injured in the woods and brings her home to treat her. If she was upper-class of course it wouldn’t do, since he has no wife, but Sophia lies that she’s Maria, a maid between jobs. Working folk are more observant of the proprieties in other people’s homes than in their own hearth, as Sophia is to discover. Fell puts her up in his bed and goes to sleep in the forge. He does wonder why this maid has pale skin and soft hands, unlike a hardworking country lass. But the Romany keep their own secrets and don’t expect to hear them from others.

This is a really fun set-up, and I have read an autobiography in which a wealthy lady had continually told her daughter that because of expecting the baby, she’d had to miss the Season and a winter’s hunting. So attitudes like this did exist, because women had so little control over their lives, though I expect they were rare. We all love to see someone get out from an unfortunate situation – even though it appears that Sophia’s station in life will diminish.

I’d have liked more detail about the everyday life of villagers – we always hear a great deal about the lives of the well-to-do, but they were a tiny percentage of the population.  And I wasn’t thrilled with the way the author Joanna Johnson chooses to even up the disparity between her characters – that’s her decision, but I’d have preferred a different way of finessing the outcome. If you would like an interesting and different story of a village blacksmith, and the stranger he finds in the woods, you’ll enjoy the recklessly romantic adventure HIS RUNAWAY LADY. I hope to read more from this entertaining author.