The Victorian era is significant for the rise of the middle classes and marked changes in social relationships, both in the home and in wider society, with the proliferation of domestic help and the development of increasingly rigid gender roles.

These are romances that chafe against the restrictions of the period, with heroes and heroines who defy social convention, igniting firestorms of gossip. The aristocrats, impostors, social climbers, domestic workers and undercover agents of these stories exist in an authentically lush world, depicted here with telling attention to detail.

While most of the stories are strongly realistic, some incorporate elements of fantasy.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-16 years.

There are 448 pages in this book. This book was published 2012 by Little, Brown Book Group .

Ekaterina Sedia is a Russian-born fantasy author who is currently living in the United States. Her most recent work is The Alchemy of Stone , a steampunk novel that explores sexism and class bigotry. Alchemy received a star review from Publishers Weekly and was made the LA Times 's 2008 Summer Reading List. Her other books include The Secret History of Moscow, According to Crow ; and The House of Discarded Dreams. In addition to writing she was the editor of the World Fantasy Award-winning Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy.