Book Detail
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Reviews |
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Excerpt |
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Historical Notes |
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Reading Group Discussion Questions |
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In the glittering world of Regency London, where gossip is exchanged– and reputations ruined–with the tilt of a fan, Mélanie Fraser is the perfect wife. Devoted to her husband, Charles, the grandson of a duke, she is acknowledged as society’s most charming hostess.
But just as the elegant façade of Regency London hides a dark side, Mélanie is not what she seems. She has a secret: one that could destroy her perfect jewel-box life forever…and the cost to keep it is an exquisite heirloom ring surrounded by legend and power.
The search for it will pull Mélanie and Charles into a gritty underworld of gin-soaked brothels, elegant gaming hells, and debtors’ prisons.In this maze of intrigue, deception is second nature and betrayal can come far too easily…
Trade Paperback, August 2007
Avon Trade, ISBN 0061284882
| previously published as ‘Daughter of the Game’ includes new epilogue and fifteen new pages of letters between the characters |
Earlier Editions |
Hardcover, March 26, 2002 |
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Paperback, January 28, 2003 |
UK Edition |
Hardcover, 1 April, 2002 Paperback, 2 December, 2002 |
May 29, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Hi Tracy
Glad to hear that Charles & Melanie will be back soon! Looking forward to the new edition of Daughter of the Game and even more so to the 3rd book in the series!
Warm Regards
Monisha
May 30, 2007 at 12:48 am
Thanks so much, Monisha!
Warmly,
Tracy
June 16, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Nice site! (But doesn’t that cat get heavy?)
June 16, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Glad you like the site, Susan! Lescaut (my cat) is pretty small-I actually carry him on my shoulder in a sherpa bag (a pet carrier) a lot when I travel.
Warmly,
Tracy
July 3, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Hi Tracy!
I was a little miffed when I realised that “Secrets…” is the same book as “Daughters..”! I was looking forward to reading another tale of Charles and Melanie but now..je suis desolee!
Your site is very easy to navigate. Well done to your the person/people who designed it coz I can navigate like this - I clicked my fingers here.
You’ve done a brilliant job with both books. I read “Beneath…” and “Daughter…” again quite recently, going through the book more slowly, savouring the nuances in your prose.
Although, I must say
I’m facinated by the characters of Charles, who is a most human, realistic hero ever and Melanie, who also is not in the style of the “good” heroine. Their personalities are unlike any Regency pairings that I’ve read. You’ve delved into the psyche more.
[Spoiler below]
The “outing” of Melanie in “Daughters..” was well done and totally unperdictable. His son is maybe his half brother? Genius!!
[End spoiler]
Please write some more about this couple. I’m sure that there is a scandal in the Ton, they can investigate.
I would like to know if the rapproachment lasted and how they effected and sustained it? Maybe there’s a lesson about forgiveness for us all in this.
Keep writing and hope your muse never gets tired!
Kind Regards,
Sam.
July 3, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Hi Sam,
Thanks so much for your kind and thoughtful comments! I love writing about Charles and Mélanie and the dynamic between them, and it’s wonderful to know readers enjoy reading about them. I have in fact, already written the third book in the series, “The Mask of Night”, which does ineed involve Mélanie and Charles investigating a scandal in the ton. The book deals with the challenges of sustaining their rapprochement (so much easier to make promisees than to put them into practice, as Mélanie says) as well as introducing some new characters. If “Secrets of a Lady” does well, hopefully “Mask of Night” will be published as well as further books in the series (I have lots of ideas for books about these characters!). Meanwile, “Secrets of a Lady” does contain about fifteen pages of additional material (the epilogue and the A+ section, short enough to glance thorugh in the book store if you don’t want another copy of the book, long enough, I hope, to be interesting). And I post a new letter on this site in the Fraser Correspondence every week, so do check back. And be sure to leave comments–it’s great to hear from readers!
Cheers,
Tracy
July 21, 2007 at 1:06 am
Oh, wow. Daughter of the Game was one of my favorite books I’ve ever reviewed…I look forward to seeing this new edition, and look forward to more books in the series, as I really love it.
July 21, 2007 at 1:59 am
Hi Cindy Lynn,
Thanks so much! Are you Cindy Lynn Speer from MostlyFiction.com? If so, I pull your reviews of “Daughter of the Game” and “Beneath a Silent Moon” out and read them sometimes when I need cheering up. You said such lovely things in such eloquent language that really summed up what the books are about. Thanks so much for posting!
Cheers,
Tracy
July 30, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Hi Tracy,
I enjoyed Beneath a Silent Moon and am looking forward to Secrets of a Lady–I was wondering whether it will be released simultaneously in countries other than the US?
Also, it seems like there is a pretty big spoiler in Sam’s comment (though maybe it’s not, as I haven’t read the book). Maybe you could somehow mark the sentence so that readers like me who haven’t read the book and who’d rather not know that secret can avoid it?
Thanks!
July 30, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Hi Sarah,
Thanks so much for your comment! I’m so glad you enjoyed “Beneath a Silent Moon”! I hope you enjoy reading more about Charles and Mélanie in “Secrets of a Lady”. You’re quite right about spoilers in comments. I want people to feel free to talk about the books, but I need to figure out a way to mark spoilers somehow. I’ll talk to my website designers and see what we can figure out. (Rest assured that there are plenty of twists and turns and revelations in “Secrets of a Lady” that haven’t been revealed).
“Secrets of a Lady” won’t be simultaneously released in countries other than the U.S. and Canada, but I know it can ordered off Amazon U.K. and I believe also the French and German Amazon sites (in English) and it may be available on Amazon or other online book sites in other countries as well.
Do post again when you’ve read “Secrets of a Lady”!
Cheers,
Tracy
September 14, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Hi Tracy,
I loved “Daughter of the Game” (and the second book). It was one of those books where you know what the secret is and waiting for the protagonist to find it out, and read about their response. The first time I read the book I cried. I don’t like the new title for the book “Secrets…” it seems so bland. The original title was “loaded” is the simplest way I can say… The expression “daughter of the game” has its own connotations, as well as gave the book a different scent…
Waiting for the third book…
Christine K.
Republic of Lebanon
p.s.: Sarah the things that Sam mentioned are not THE “secret” of the book.
September 14, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Hi Christne,
Thanks so much for your nice words! It’s seems odd to be pleased you’ve made someone cry :-), but I’m thrilled you were so drawn into the story you had that reaction to it. My publisher really wanted a new title for the re-release. I’ve grown to quite like “Secrets of a Lady” (it has a 19th century-novel feel I like), but I still love ” Daughter of the Game” as a title. Of course, I also still love “The End of Reckoning” which was my working title for the book as I wrote it. “Beneath a Silent Moon” will be re-released in May and will keep it’s original title. And hopefully I’ll have news for you about the third book soon!
Cheers,
Tracy
October 29, 2007 at 4:06 am
Hello, Ms.Grant,
Julia Quinn is one of my favorite authors. “Secrets of a Lady” is on the JQ Recommends page and I’m interested in reading your Charles & Melanie Fraser books. In what order should I read the Knight Miscellany books? I know “Beneath a Silent Moon” takes place two years earlier than the events detailed in “Secrets of a Lady.”
October 29, 2007 at 4:07 am
Dear Ms.Grant
Julia Quinn is one of my favorite authors. “Secrets of a Lady” is on the JQ Recommends page and I’m interested in reading your Charles & Melanie Fraser books. In what order should I read the Knight Miscellany books? I know “Beneath a Silent Moon” takes place two years earlier than the events detailed in “Secrets of a Lady.”
October 29, 2007 at 6:01 am
Hi Tomoko,
How wonderful that you found my site through Julia’s lovely recommendation. I was so thrilled when she posted that. Julia is such a great writer and also a fabulous (and very generous!) person. It’s so great that you’re interested in reading my books! The Knight Miscellany books are actually a different series (also Regency set).by the very talented Galen Foley. I’m not sure of the order, but she has a fabulous website that I’m sure has a list.
As to the order in which to read my Charles and Mélanie Fraser books–I deliberately tried to write “Secrets of a Lady” and “Beneath a Silent Moon” so they could be read in either order. Neither contains major spoiilers for the other (one of the advantages of the second book in a series being a prequel :-). But the information you learn about the characters in each book will inform the events of the other book. If I had to pick a reading order, I’d suggest reading “Secrets of a Lady” first and then reading “Beneath a Silent Moon”, knowing the subtext of the revelations in “Secrets of a Lady.” The third book in the series, “The Mask of Night” (which hopefully will be published soon
is set after “Secrets”.
Hope that helps! Do feel free to ask more questions. And if you try the books, be sure to let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Tracy
December 13, 2007 at 1:36 am
Hi readers;
I just finished reading Secrets of a lady, i loved it, and im looking forward to read the third book , even tho i didnt know there was first.
Cheers,
Reem
December 13, 2007 at 7:45 am
Hi Reem,
Thanks so much for posting! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed “Secrets of a Lady”! “Beneath a Silent Moon” (the second book n the series) will be reissued in trade next May, and hopefully “The Mask of Night” and more books in the series will soon follow. I’m posting excerpts from “The Mask of Night” every week through the end of the year in my “Dear Reader” blog.
Cheers,
Tracy
December 25, 2007 at 5:19 am
Hi Tracy,
I have just finished reading “Secrets of a Lady.” This is the first of your books I have read. Charles and Mel were both wounded, intriguing, complex, wonderful. The characters in the novel seem quite real. I was sorry it was over and wondered what happened to those characters.
I am reading “The Widow’s Gambit” now. The writing style in SOAL seemed quite different from in TWG.
I heard that you had been working on an historical novel set in the Napoleonic Empire in 1811. I’m looking forward to it and Fraser books.
Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday,
Tomoko
December 28, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Hi Tomoko,
So glad to hear you enjoyed Charles and Mélanie and “Secrets of a Lady”! “The Widow’s Gambit” is indeed written in a very different style–much lighter and more a comedy of manners. It was my very first published book, co-written with my mom. It was published when I was still in college and there are parts that were written when I was a teenager. I think my books, both those I wrote with my mom and those I later wrote on my own, got darker and more complex as the years went on, until I realized I wanted to write historical suspense fiction and started the Fraser series.
Btw, if you haven’t already found it, I’ve been posting excerpt from the third Charles & Mel book, “The Mask of Night,” (set just after “Secrets of a Lady”
in the Dear Reader section of this site.
Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season!
Tracy
February 18, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Tracy,
My read Secrets of a Lady and absolutely loved it, the style, the intrigue. I couldn’t get enough of it and was sad to come to the end of the book. I am actually reading it because our book club chose it as our selection for this month. I am having trouble finding discussion questions for the book so we can have a stimulating conversation at our book club meeting. Can you help me out with this? Thanks.
Menaca from Dallas
February 18, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Hi Menaca,
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed “Secrets of a Lady”! And how fun to think of it being discussed by a book club. Your post made me realize I should develop Reader Guides on my site–thanks for the great idea :-). Meanwhile, here are some discussion questions I’ve put together for “Secrets of a Lady.” Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask further questions. And do report back on how the book club discussion goes–I’d love to hear about it!
1. What kind of mood and tone does the Prologue set? Why do you think the author chose to open the novel with Meg and Jack and to introduce the reader to the Frasers’ world through their eyes?
2. What image of the Frasers and their marriage did you have from the first scene between Mélanie and Charles? How does this scene change if one rereads it knowing the secrets that are revealed over the course of the novel?
3. Did you find yourself sympathizing more with Mélanie or with Charles or with both of them equally? Why? Did your sympathies change over the course of reading the novel?
4. What do you think would have happened if Charles had learned Mélanie’s secrets in a different way, without Colin’s disappearance forcing them to work together? How would events have played out? Would Charles and Mélanie have continued to live under the same roof? Would they ever have revealed the things they reveal over the course of the novel? What would have happened to Colin and Jessica and their relationship with their parents?
5. When Roth meets the Frasers in Chapter 3 in the small salon (”an airy room with sea-green walls and pristine ivory moldings”
he thinks of them as a “typical Mayfair couple, at home in their perfect jewel box of a world.” [p. 34]. In Chapter 8, when Charles learns Mélanie’s secrets, he smashes his fist into the wall of this perfect room. Discuss the ways in which that moment is a metaphor for the events of the novel.
6. How did the secrets Mélanie kept compare with the secrets Charles kept?
7. How did you feel about Mélanie’s secret when it was first revealed? By the end of the book, had your opinion of her changed? If so, why?
8. How are Mélanie and Charles both shaped by their childhoods, particularly their relationships with their parents? How does this affect their relationships with Colin and Jessica?
9. At one point, Mélanie thinks, “If her life had taken a different turn, if she had made different choices, she might be preparing to open a new production of “Romeo and Juliet,” like Violet Goddard. Or dying of consumption in a brothel like Susan Trevennen.” How do Violet and Susan and the other women in the book–Helen Trevennen, Kitty, Meg, Lady Frances, Julia Mannerling–echo different elements of Mélanie’s story? What does this say about the position of women at the time?
10. Just after Mélanie has opened up to Charles about the horrifying circumstances that shaped her early life and led her to be a spy, she says, “Whatever happens, don’t let Jessica be stifled. Give her an education, let her travel, give her an independent income. Make her as free as a woman can be.” And Charles thinks, “The speech at first seemed a complete non sequitur. But in light of their whole conversation, perhaps it was not.” [p. 302]. Do you agree? Why do you think the revelations about her own past drive Mélanie to discuss her daughter’s future?
11. Mélanie says, “You can never know what another person is thinking or feeling. You have to make guesses and assumptions. The picture keeps changing with new evidence.” [p. 335]. Discuss how this is true of the image the other characters–and the reader–have of the major characters–Mélanie, Charles, Raoul, Edgar, Meg, Roth, Helen Trevennen–over the course of the novel?
12. How does Roth attitude toward the Frasers change over the course of the novel. Why is Roth’s confession of some of his own secrets in the last chapter “in its own way an offer of friendship”? [p. 457].
13. Discuss the use of names in the book. What does it say about Charles’s relationship to Mélanie that he almost always calls her “Mel” rather than the more elegant and delicate “Mélanie”? How does the way he addresses her change after he learns her secret? What does it say about Mélanie that she continues to call Charles “darling” throughout the book, even in the darkest moments between them? Is there a difference between when Raoul calls Charles “Fraser” and “Charles”? What about Raoul calling Mélanie “querida”?
14. Why is it significant that Charles’s letter to Mélanie at the end of the book is written from the House of Commons?
15. What new light do the letters in the A+ section shed on the characters and story? What do the salutations and signatures (”My dear David,” “Melly mine,”, “Your affectionate friend,” “R.,” “As always”, etc…
say about the characters and their relationships.
16. Despite working for different sides, in what ways are Charles and Mélanie’s ideals similar? What does this say about the political landscape of the day?
17. Toward the end of the book, Charles says, “I think you were right earlier. We never know what we’re capable of until we actually commit an act.” [p. 454]. How does this apply to the various characters in the book–Mélanie, Charles, Edgar, Raoul, Meg, Jack, Roth?
April 14, 2008 at 12:47 pm
*beams* That is indeed me!
(She says, many months later…
Thank you so much for your kind words…I’m really glad! Everything I said was very much deserved.
April 14, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Great to hear from you, Cindy Lynn! And thanks again :-).