The Lost Duke of Wyndham

by Julia Quinn Book 1 in the Two Dukes of Wyndham series.

First published 2008

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2.5(5)

Jack Audley, a former soldier living as a highwayman, stops a carriage and meets Grace Eversleigh, companion to the formidable dowager Duchess of Wyndham. The encounter becomes an inheritance crisis when the dowager sees in Jack the likeness of her dead son and claims he may be the rightful duke.

Jack’s possible legitimacy threatens the title held by Thomas Cavendish and places Grace between loyalty and desire. This first Wyndham novel follows the disputed succession largely through Jack and Grace, while the companion volume retells the same crisis from Thomas and Amelia’s perspective.