The Duke Undone

Joanna Lowell lives among the fig trees in North Carolina, where she teaches in the English department at Wake Forest University. When she's not writing historical romance, she writes collections and novels as Joanna Ruocco. Those books include Dan, Another Governess / The Least Blacksmith, The Week, and Field Glass, co-authored with Joanna Howard.

An artist stumbles upon a naked duke and an unlikely love story begins in this captivating Victorian historical romance. When Royal Academy painting student Lucy Coover trips over a naked man passed out in an East End alley, she does the decent thing. She covers him up and fetches help. Trouble is, she can't banish his muscular form from her dreams as easily. She finds herself compelled to put every detail down on canvas. What she doesn't know is that she's painting the infamous Duke of Weston, and that her life will never be the same. A second son, Anthony Philby thought he could flee his brutal family legacy and become his own man. Forced back to London by his brother's death, he inherits a fortune... with strings attached. One scandal will sink his bid for independence. It's in his best interest to burn Lucy Coover's shocking painting and pretend he never met the bewitching young artist. Instead, he finds himself offering a devil's bargain. He'll save her aunt's dressmaking shop from ruin, if she'll seek out his missing sister, Effie. As they work together, an unexpected passion ignites between them. But the hunt for Effie leads to unexpected danger, and soon they find themselves risking everything... for a love that might destroy them both.

ACCLAIMED AUTHOR: An award-winning literary author, Joanna is a champion of the romance genre and is thrilled to be publishing Victorian romance with Berkley; her love for romance novels combined with her assured writing and unique take on traditional storylines make for an irresistible and delightful novelFEMINIST THEMES: Modern readers will relate to the heroine's aspiration to be an acclaimed artist in the male-dominated art world, and her activism in social and women's rights causesFRESH FORMAT FOR BELOVED HISTORICAL ROMANCE GENRE: Joanna's sophisticated writing and the feminist issues she addresses are perfectly suited for the growing trade paperback format, since these feminist themes will appeal to young readers, who prefer the trade format. It's not a romantic comedy, but like Evie Dunmore's Bringing Down the Duke, it will appeal to a millennial reader.UNIQUE SETTING FOR VICTORIAN ROMANCE: Lowell spins away from the genre's typical settings of ballrooms and palaces, and moves into the basement of the Royal Academy of Art (where the female students are restricted to study) and the slums of ShoreditchAN OUTSTANDING NEW TALENT: We were so impressed with the quality of Joanna's storytelling that we bought three Victorian romances from her, giving us two more books to publish after The Duke Undone