I’m so happy I listened to this companion of books one through three before continuing the Roxton Family saga in book four. Not only did it refresh my memory of the stories, but added an additional layer of understanding behind the events. It also allowed me to remember with fondness their stories:

I didn’t think listening to narrated letters would elicit such emotion from me. Many a time, while listening, the feelings of deep emotion would set the tears to falling, not small tears, mind you, but bit tears which certainly would have stopped me reading if I had been reading, not listening. Narrator is superb in his craft, there is no doubt.

Then there were the times when Antoine as a young girl wrote to the Duke, hoping to have a letter in return. These were quite silly and would have captured any hardened duke-ish heart, bringing smiles to my own. Narrator Alex Wyndham heightened the experience with narration par excellence, as he has done throughout the series.

These letters were so realistically, I had to pose a question to the author. The book mentions the foreword written by a late-Victorian descendant, Alice-Victoria, 10th. I then Googled this person and found none. With this unanswered question, I asked author Lucinda Brant if the Roxton family is in any way tied to specific persons in history.

The many letters within this book of 170 pages were mentioned in the first three books of the saga. As you know, during that time letters were very important to people. Travelling was difficult, so they resorted to lots of letter writing. The author decided, and I must say it’s brilliant, to write these said letters, allowing the reader to gain better understanding of the deeper emotions and frame of mind of the characters.

The descendant, the 10th Duchess of the Roxton's, also from the imagination of the author add even more to these letters. Brant made her so realistic I had to find out if she were real. Brant also states she may write a book set around the time of this Duchess, living during the 1890s. Whatever time period this author writes in, her eloquent style, and descriptive scenes captivate and enthrall the reader or listener.

Once book six is written, she will write volume II of another set of letters. I have just finished listening to Proud Mary, book four of the saga. I continue to be mesmerized with the saga. ( )