Rules of the Heart by Janice Hadlow
This historical novel based on the tortured liaison
between Harriet, Countess of Bessborough and her longtime lover Lord Granville
Leweson-Gore could more accurately be titled Ruled by the Heart. The
younger daughter of Lord and Lady Spencer (Princess Diana’s ancestors), she appropriately
married another aristocrat—at that time possessing the title Viscount Duncannon
but prematurely referred to as Lord Bessborough. As his wife she endured a
rocky relationship that included his excessive gambling and increasing indebtedness,
temper tantrums, insults, and accusations of infidelity. In her unhappiness,
Harriet was susceptible to her admirer Richard Sheridan and others. Eventually,
after her recovery from severe illness, she and her husband enter into a calmer
period, but one devoid of the passionate, reciprocal love that Harriet longs to
experience. During a stay in Naples to restore her health, she meets the
handsome and attentive and much younger Lord Granville, ambitious and impecunious.
Attracted to her, he makes no secret of his intentions, which she rebuffs in
Italy, and after their return to England. The effect of his good looks and his
blue eyes and the intensity of his passion overcomes her reluctance and her
dread of more scandal. She enters into a long and harrowing affair destined to
cause as much—if not more—agony than happiness.
The first-person narrative
effectively reveals Harriet’s deep emotions, her guilt, her commitment to a man
whose demands of her are so destructive. Hadlow is especially skilled in depicting
the period: aristocratic society, political maneuvers, the subterfuges required
of unfaithful wives, and the secret arrangements made for the care of their illegitimate
offspring. While Harriet’s predicaments are clearly delineated and
understandable, she is so often a depressed and despairing heroine sympathy for
her does suffer at times. But fans of historical biography will find much to
like in this sweeping and well-written novel. (Henry Holt & Co., hardcover/paperback/ebook/audio,
480 pp., January 2026)
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Divine Ruin by Margot Douaihy
This third installment of the Sister Holiday mysteries is as gritty and gripping as its predecessors, Scorched Grace and Blessed Water. The queer but celibate nicotine-addicted protagonist is preparing to take her the permanent vows that will seal her future within the New Orleans convent where she teaches guitar pupils, performs menial tasks, and strives to sublimate her attraction to science teacher Rosemary Flynn. When popular student Fleur dies from a fentanyl overdose, Holiday returns to her sleuthing vocation in partnership with intense, wisecracking, and similarly traumatized private investigator Magnolia Riveaux, and a deep dive into the drug underworld reveals more clearly the destructive habits she abandoned to don the habit of a religious. Her stalwart soul is warmed by affection for her brother and connection to her priest but is tortured by lack of sleep, bitter jealousy, routine drudgery, and the recognition of her own failings. Despite all, she clings to her faith and her calling, and her determination to ensure justice for the dead and endangered and her commitment to her quirky spirituality do not waver.
The sights, sounds, and smells of the city, its culture and its lore, pervade the novel and combine with the claustrophobic nature of institutions—religious and academic. The dark, highly-charged atmosphere compounds the conflicts as Holiday powers through unexpected travails and searing losses to solve the layers of mysteries that impede her journey towards her final vows and her veiling. Douaihy excels in placing the reader into the story, ratcheting tension to extremes, and presenting the admirable tenacity of a severely flawed yet self-aware heroine. (Gillian Flynn Books, hardcover/ebook/audio, 366 pp., January 2026)
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