The Missing Heiress

by Kate Jennings

Why would someone want to kidnap the Earl of Riverton's baby daughter? Could it be for revenge? Ransom? A disgruntled servant? Perhaps some woman just wants a child. After exhausting every possible lead the child still remains missing and the family is devastated. Can the family recover from such heartache? Years later, a young woman accepts the position of governess to the Duke of Gladwell's daughters. The Duke is the uncle of the baby girl kidnapped years earlier from the Earl and Countess of Riverton. Evie Stanton the new governess has lost both her parents and must work to earn a living. She arrives in London to take up her position and through many strange occurances finds that the parents who raised her are not her birth parents but adoptive ones. After arriving in London she meets the Duke's relations who introduce her to several young gentlemen of the ton. One in particular, the Marquess of Waverly, is taken with her and proceeds to seek her out at every opportunity. What could he want with her? She is not looking for a suitor and she is below his station anyway. Yet, everytime she is in his presence there are tremors that run through her entire being. What is wrong with her? He really is a handsome devil, but he cannot want anything honorable, can he? She will just have to avoid him at all costs or chance losing her heart to a rouge.

488 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 2011

About the author

Kate Jennings was a poet, essayist, short-story writer and novelist. Both her novels, Snake and Moral Hazard, were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She has won the ALS Gold Medal, the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the Adelaide Festival fiction prize. Born in rural New South Wales, she has lived in New York since 1979.

Her most recent books are Stanley and Sophie, Quarterly Essay 32: American Revolution and Trouble: Evolution of a Radical.