The Three Graces

by Jane Ashford

The Hartington sisters were three of the most captivating young ladies in the realm -- and suddenly among the most impoverished. The demise of their spendthrift father and the passing of their generous aunt left them with only their wits, wiles and beauty to fend off disaster -- and forced them to go their separate ways.Aggie, the eldest, became a governess. Thalia, the literary one, became a schoolmistress. Euphie, the musical one, became a companion to an aristocratic old lady. And all of them saw the future of their hopes and the men of their dreams slipping out of their reach until they discovered that three Hartington heads were better than one when it came to playing a winning hand in the marriage game.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Regency, Historical

234 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 2, 1982

About the author

Jane Ashford has written historical and contemporary romances. Her books have been published in England, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Slovakia, Denmark, Russia, and Latvia, Croatia and Slovenia as well as the U.S. She was nominated for a Career Achievement Award by RT Book Reviews. Her latest book, Lost Time, is romantic suspense with a touch of magic.

Her website is https://www.janeashford.com/ and her Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/JaneAshfordW... If you'd like to subscribe to Jane's monthly newsletter go to www.eepurl.com/cd-O7r and sign up.

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three sisters named after the Three Graces of Greek Myth: Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia were raised by their eccentric aunt who hated men and loved cats. Their aunt let them study whatever they wanted so Thalia studied Latin and Greek; Euphie, music; while Aggie keeps her younger sisters happy with her sweetness. Then their aunt dies and their world is upended. Each must make her own way in the world. Aggie heads to Hampshire to become a nursery governess to the charming Wellfleet children. Their mother, Anne, is all that is good and kind and takes Aggie under her wing as a younger sister, with matchmaking plans up her sleeve. Thalia heads to Bath to become a school mistress, wasting her intelligence teaching literature to bored young ladies most of whom could care less about poetry. The youngest sister Euphie finds a home as a companion to elderly Lady Fanshawe where her cat battles with Lady Fanshawe's pug. Lady Fanshawe treats Euphie more like a daughter, allowing the girl to practice her music, buy new clothes and go out into society. Euphie relishes each new experience. She wishes that the haughty Lord Fanshawe would behave in public as he does in the privacy of his mother's home. Her dearest wish, however, is to have her sisters with her. She's never been away from them and misses their love and guidance. An unexpected event occurs to change their lives forever, bringing them closer to the secret dreams they held dear.

This is a pleasant enough story. There's nothing really wrong with it but I feel like each sister deserved her own novel. As is, the stories are too short to be believable and to do justice to the characters. I wanted to like Thalia best because she's a bluestocking but she wasn't developed enough and wasted her talent. Her plot is very very similar to Anne of the Island or more closer to Anne of Avonlea the miniseries. Lady Agnes is Jen Pringle and Mary Deming is Emaline Harris. Euphie's story is the most fleshed out and the most interesting of the three. I enjoyed the antics of Nero and Pug but could tell the author is a fan of cats and not a dog lover. Some of the characters' actions towards Pug were downright cruel which made me not like them very much. My sympathies were with Pug. The last section feels rushed and the predictable endings rather anticlimactic.

This is a nice, pleasant sort of read. It took me two nights to read it and it didn't interfere with my sleep. The original version of the book is very sweet. There are maybe three kisses and that's it for romance. I can not say whether the book has been revised.

[EuroHackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually wasn't very sure of this one, given it was originally published in 1982, at the height of the bodice-rippers, so I was beyond pleasantly surprised to find it it was anything but salacious.

The three Hartingtons - Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne (dubbed Euphie) - were named after Homer's Three Graces. They have endured a lot in their young lives, including the deaths of their parents and a traumatic move from their beloved Hampshire home to reside with their Aunt Elvira, their father's sister. Elvira keeps the sisters cloistered in her home with her multitude of cats, much to youngest sister Euphie's chagrin, though Aggie and Thalia are less concerned with the doings of high society. The girls were allowed educations in whatever interested them, which included literature for Thalia and music for Euphie. This is enough for the eldest sisters, but Euphie desperately wishes for more.

Well, her wish comes true, when the girls discover their aunt dead the very afternoon that the story opens. She's died of old age, and suddenly the girls are left alone in the world. Worst yet is the reading of their aunt's will - she's left her entire fortune to her cats!

The girls are forced out into the world to earn their livings, and for the first time in their lives, they are separated. Aggie is headed back to Hampshire to take a post as a nursery governess; Thalia received an appointment at the prestigious girls school Chadbourne, in Bath, as the new mistress of literature; Euphie is reluctantly hired out as a companion to a wizened old lady in London. Each girl takes with them a kitten from their aunt's house, and the cats play rather delightful roles in the story.

From this beginning, we follow each of the girls on their paths. First up is Aggie, in Hampshire. She was hired by Anne Wellfleet as a governness for her young children. Anne is a similarly young, stylish woman, and immediately wants to make Aggie her best friend. Anne is secure in her marriage, and yet has many childlike qualities, which at turns make Aggie comfortable and uncomfortable. The children are complete delights, and slowly Aggie settles into life as a governness.

She also runs into her old foe John Dudley, who used to make fun of her by calling her Uglea. She is hardly ugly these days - with her russet-colored hair cut fashionably at Anne's insistence, and her deep blue eyes, set off by castoff fashions (also from Anne) - and John Dudley immediately falls for her, and she for him.

After much angst, Aggie allows Anne to throw a party in her honor (for Anne is very interested in marrying Aggie off - this is obviously not the usual employer/employee relationship!), and just when John is about to make his move, Aggie receives an incredible letter from her aunt's solicitor: there has been a mistake; Elvira did provide for her nieces after all!

Aggie is immediately away to collect her sisters; John Dudley is stunned by the news, and refuses to see her before she leaves.

Next we catch up with Thalia, who has taken a teaching job in Bath. The Chadbourne School is known as a prestigious girls' academy, catering to the rich and powerful of society. Thalia is targeted not only because she is new, but because she is young and beautiful - scarcely older than her students. One particularly nasty girl, Lady Agnes Crewe, forms a grudge against Thalia from the start, and sets out to make her life hell. On the contrary, Thalia takes a shine to a shy student named Mary Deming, who shares her love of literature and poetry.

Thalia wanders off campus during her days off, and stumbles upon a handsome young man reciting ancient Greek in the woods. He turns out to be James Elguard, a younger son bound for the church, on break from Oxford and visiting his mother in Bath. Thalia and James immediately hit it off and begin an unconventional friendship, which is quite against the rules of the school. Lady Agnes spies them one afternoon and begins to spread malicious gossip about Thalia - not only to the students, but also to the headmistress and James's mother, who comes to the school and confronts Thalia as a common whore, more or less.

James doesn't help the situation at all when he storms into the school and demands to see Thalia, in front of a tittering pocket of students, including Agnes. He declares his love for her and asks her to marry him, but she refuses, angry and upset that he's made her post at Chadbourne completely unbearable.

Just when things look the worst, she receives word from Aggie about their newly changed fortunes. She can't get away from Bath fast enough.

Finally, we follow Euphie down to London, where she takes her place as a hired companion to an old lady in society, the countess Fanshawe. Euphie isn't certain what to make of her, but she absolutely falls in love with Lady Fanshawe's opulent house, and finds the old woman quite agreeable. Lady Fanshawe is old and alone and doesn't give two hoots about appearances anymore. She is quite fiesty, and she enjoys Euphie for the very reason she hated the other companions forced onto her. Euphie doesn't simper or tiptoe around her; she gives as good as she gets, and this delights her employer.

Lady Fanshawe, like Anne Wellfleet, sets out to give Euphie a fashionable makeover, and when she sees the way her erstwhile son, the new earl Giles, responds to her fresh young companion, she hatches a plan to marry them off in spite of their age difference (Euphie is seventeen; Giles thirty). Lady Fanshawe takes Euphie to a party, where she meets Agnes Crewe and Mary Deming, and spies Giles paying much more attention to a married duchess than is perhaps proper. She enjoys herself quite a bit, and longs for her sisters - and receives a missive about her change in fortune and the imminent arrival of both girls.

Euphie invites her sisters to stay with her at Lady Fanshawe's for the Season. Lady Fanshawe is delighted to have three girls under her roof, and insists on giving them a debutante ball to introduce them into Society.

It of course goes off smashingly. Lady Elguard has heard of Thalia's wealth and falls all over herself trying to make amends. She calls her son James into town and encourages his suit. Aggie is overwhelmed by the festivities, and she's still hurt by John's stinging rebuke, but Thalia and Anne Wellfleet conspire to bring him into London so they can be reconciled. Euphie is living it up - a Season is her dream come true - even though she struggles with Giles's hot-and-cold feelings towards her.

Everything ties up quite simply, with each girl landing her dreamboat (and Lady Agnes getting delicious comeuppance at the hands of Thalia and James). This is a very frothy, uncomplicated book, and a true Regency romance - nobody kisses until they are engaged, and even then the descriptions are very opaque.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. I liked each of the Harrington sisters and adored Lady Fanshawe =) It was fun to see Agnes get hers, after she was so cruel to so many people. And I like Euphie the best, because her musical talent takes center stage in her storyline. Her scene with Giles is the last, and it's beautifully rendered in the music room in Lady Fanshawe's house, one of my favorite tropes ♥

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking for something to take your mind off troubles? Like historical romance novels? This one hits the spot. It’s PG-rated, features cats, and has three storylines about three seemingly down-and-out sisters that intersect and merge. Not much witty about it, it’s terribly predictable, and characters could have been fleshed out a lot more, but of course everything ends perfectly. And sometimes that just hits the spot. While I did question A LOT including how a random teenager (let’s face it, they are all under 20) can land a position as a literature teacher at a prestigious girls’ school, it’s a bit of fun and a very quick read.
[From my box of cast-off/garage sale finds.]

[Jacque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three sisters, dependent upon their aunt, were shocked when she died and even more shocked that everything except for a 160 pounds and a kitten for each girl and gratuities to servants was left to her cats with her best friend to oversee the trust.
The sisters all went separate ways to earn their living.
This is a very quick read divided into each sisters' story.

[ChristineZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet read with cute female characters and very likable male characters - I like when the hero, or heroes in this case, are decisive and honourable. No steamy scenes - is this what a Georgette Heyer book is like?

[Tanya Blank · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh ....

Meh....want my time back, book was predictable and mild. Cute concept, maybe executing would have been better between 3seperate books.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just meh. The relationships were shallow at best and everything felt both rushed and terribly slow.

[Jacque · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was slow getting into this book but once I was reading part 1- Aggie - I started understanding the story/concept.

[Kiki Z · Rating 2 out of 5]

With three stories going on at once, and the book being relatively short, this story ends up falling flat. There isn't any real romance going on--Thalia's especially, I feel--and it's all dealt with neatly and with such little drama that the story is mostly boring.

[Sarah Paulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts slow, but stick with it because it gets better!

[Marlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting read about 3 sisters who are left to find jobs after their aunt leaves fortune to her cats. They are beautiful and things soon changes.