The Dunboyne affair is fictional, but the events of the United Irish Uprising within which it is set are very real. The Elsinore League and their involvement in the affair of the queen’s necklace are also fictional, but Jeanne de la Motte did seek refuge in England after she was released from prison and the necklace is thought to have been taken to Britain.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Creevey, Thomas. The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of Thomas Creevey, M.P. Edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell. London: Murray, 1904.
Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. New York: Modern Library, 2001.
Gleeson, Janet. Privilege and Scandal: The Remarkable Life of Harriet Spencer, Sister of Georgiana. New York: Crown, 2006.
Granville, Harriet. Letters of Harriet Countess Granville 1810–1845, vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1894.
Gronow, Rees Howell. Reminiscences and Recollections of Captain Gronow, vol. 1. London: John C. Nimmo.
Lever, Tresham. The Letters of Lady Palmerston: Selected and Edited from the Originals at Broadlands and Elsewhere. London: John Murray, 1957.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ashland: Blackstone Audio, 2011.
Shapiro, James. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.
Tillyard, Stella. Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, 1740–1832. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1994.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
THE BERKELEY SQUARE AFFAIR
Teresa Grant
About This Guide
The suggested questions are included
to enhance your group’s reading of
Teresa Grant’s The Berkeley Square Affair.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast the relationships Malcolm, Harry, Crispin, Rupert, and David have with their fathers and surrogate fathers.
2. The loss of a father figures prominently in this book as in Hamlet. What other issues and themes in Hamlet have parallels in the book?
3. How might Malcolm’s reaction to the revelation of Suzanne’s secrets have been different if Suzanne had told him instead of him working it out for himself?
4. Did you guess who was behind the deaths of Lord Harleton and Alistair Rannoch? Why or why not?
5. What do you think lies ahead for Crispin and Manon?
6. How do you think a grown-up Colin and Jessica might react if they learned the truth about their mother?
7. Which of Malcolm and Suzanne’s friends do you think would have the hardest time accepting the truth about Suzanne? Which do you think would be the most understanding?
8. How do you think Malcolm and Suzanne’s relationship will play out in the next few weeks?
9. Francis Woolright turned his back on his heritage. Which other characters in the book do that?
10. Whom do you think Laura Dudley was reporting to?
11. Suzanne and Manon say Malcolm and Crispin can never entirely escape the mind-set of being British gentlemen. Do you think that’s true?
12. How are the decisions Malcolm and Suzanne make shaped by the fact that they are parents? How do you think they would have dealt with the revelation of Suzanne’s secrets if they didn’t have Colin and Jessica?
13. Hamlet sees the ghost of his father. What metaphorical ghosts haunt the characters in the book?
14. Raoul O’Roarke played a huge role in both Malcolm’s and Suzanne’s lives, and as he himself says, many of the things he’s done could be considered unforgivable. How did you feel about him by the end of the story? What do you think lies ahead for his relationship to both the Rannochs?
15. What role does solving mysteries together play in Malcolm and Suzanne’s relationship?
© Raphael Coffey Photography
http://www.raphaelcoffey.com
TERESA GRANT studied British history at Stanford University and received the Firestone Award for Excellence in Research for her honors thesis on shifting conceptions of honor in late-fifteenth-century England. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her young daughter and three cats. In addition to writing, Teresa works for the Merola Opera Program, a professional training program for opera singers, pianists, and stage directors. Her real-life heroine is her daughter, Mélanie, who is very cooperative about Mummy’s writing. Teresa is currently at work on her next book chronicling the adventures of Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch. Visit her on the Web at www.teresagrant.com.
HIS SPANISH BRIDE
When Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch proposes to Suzanne de Saint-Vallier, the tumult of the Peninsular War recedes—if only temporarily. For their union may have shattering consequences for the more fragile partnership between Britain and Spain. But meanwhile, let the celebrations begin....
Kensington Publishing Corporation and Author Teresa Grant
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of
SUZANNE de SAINT-VALLIER
to
MALCOLM RANNOCH
the seventh of December 1812
British Embassy, Lisbon
* Intrigue and unforeseen occurrences expected *
VIENNA WALTZ
Nothing is fair in love and war. . . .
Europe’s elite have gathered at the glittering Congress of Vienna—princes, ambassadors, the Russian tsar—all negotiating the fate of the Continent by day and pursuing pleasure by night. Until Princess Tatiana, the most beautiful and talked-about woman in Vienna, is found murdered during an ill-timed rendezvous with three of her most powerful conquests....
Suzanne Rannoch has tried to ignore rumors that her new husband, Malcolm, has also been tempted by Tatiana. As a protégé of France’s Prince Talleyrand and attaché for Britain’s Lord Castlereagh, Malcolm sets out to investigate the murder and must enlist Suzanne’s special skills and knowledge if he is to succeed. As a complex dance between husband and wife in the search for the truth ensues, no one’s secrets are safe, and the future of Europe may hang in the balance. . . .
IMPERIAL SCANDAL
Amid the treachery of war and the whirl of revelry, no one is what they seem....
Nights filled with lavish balls . . . lush, bucolic afternoons . . . Removed to glamorous Brussels in the wake of Napoleon’s escape from Elba, Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, warily partake in the country’s pleasures. But with the Congress of Vienna in chaos and the Duke of Wellington preparing for battle, the festivities are cut short when Malcolm is sent on a perilous mission that unravels a murderous world of espionage....
No one knows what the demure and respectable Lady Julia Ashton was doing at the château where Malcolm and a fellow British spy were ambushed. But now her enigmatic life has been ended by an equally mysterious death. And as the conflict with Napoleon marches towards Waterloo, and Brussels surrenders to bedlam, Suzanne and Malcolm will be plunged into the search for the truth—revealing an intricate labyrinth of sinister secrets and betrayal within which no one can be trusted....
THE PARIS AFFAIR
From the ashes of war rise the secrets of its darkest hearts....
In the wake of the battle of Waterloo, Paris is a house divided. The triumphant Bourbons flaunt their victory with lavish parties, while Bonapartists seek revenge only to be captured and executed. Amid the turmoil, British attaché and Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, discover that his murdered half-sister, Princess Tatiana Kirsanova, may have borne a child—a secret she took to the grave. And Malcolm suspects there was more than mere impropriety behind her silence....
As Malcolm and Suzanne begin searching for answers, they learn that the child was just one of many secrets Tatiana had been keeping. The princess was the toast of Paris when she arrived in the glamorous city, flirting her way into the arms of more than a few men—perhaps even those of Napoleon himself—and the father must be among them. But in the mêlée of the Napoleonic Wars she was caught up in a deadly game, and now Malcol
m and Suzanne must race against time to save the child from a similar fate....
THE PARIS PLOT
In the fallout of one of history’s bloodiest battles, a personal war is waged....
Paris in 1816 is reeling from the Battle of Waterloo, and relations between the British and French are uneasy at best. So it’s hardly a surprise to British attaché and Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch when he and his wife, Suzanne, soon to give birth to their second child, become the target of violent threats. Malcolm is certain that the secrets of his past have caught up with him—but he’s unaware that Suzanne has more than a few secrets of her own....
The Rannochs both served as spies throughout the Napoleonic Wars, Malcolm for the British and Suzanne for the Bonapartist French—and both could have left any number of enemies in their wake. But even for two seasoned agents, finding a would-be killer in a country where allegiances are tested and no one can be trusted may prove as impossible as escaping their history. . . .
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2014 by Tracy Grant
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-8395-5
eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-8396-2
eISBN-10: 0-7582-8396-2
First Kensington Electronic Edition: April 2014
The Berkeley Square Affair (Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch) Page 47