The Runaway Duchess

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, coauthored with Joanna Howard.

A runaway bride dumps a duke and rewrites her own love story in this enchanting Victorian historical romance from the author of The Duke Undone.Pretty and pampered, Lavinia Yardley always dreamed of becoming a duchess. But family disgrace forces her into marriage with the most vile duke in England, and she finds herself desperate for a way out. When a rustic stranger mistakes her for globe-trotting botanist Muriel Pendrake at a train station, Lavinia has a split second to decide whether to submit to her fate or steal someone else's.Neal Traymayne spent his youth traveling the world as Varnham Nursery's most daring plant hunter. Now he runs the nursery and is ready to settle down with a like-minded wife who'll fit right in with his large, happy, down-to-earth family. His correspondence with Muriel Pendrake proved they're the perfect match. Odd that the woman in the flesh seems more like a society belle than a scientist.As they tramp the Cornish moors together, Lavinia and Neal discover a wild and rare desire. But this blossoming love is rooted in lies, and when the real Muriel Pendrake shows up, they can't hide from who they are. The truth may wither their hopes of happiness, or it may bloom into the sweetest love of all.Story Locale: Victorian England

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 novelFRESH 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. Like Evie Dunmore's Bringing Down the Duke, it will appeal to a millennial reader.UNIQUE SETTING FOR VICTORIAN ROMANCE: Lowell leaves behind the genre's typical settings of ballrooms and palaces in favor of the forests, countryside, and moors of Great BritainA DIFFERENT KIND OF HERO: Rather than falling in love with a Duke-as so many historical romance heroines are prone to doing-this heroine ditches a Duke in favor of an intelligent, loveable, down-to-earth botanist who readers will adoreAN OUTSTANDING NEW TALENT: We were so impressed with the quality of Joanna's storytelling that we bought three Victorian romances from her