A Beauty so Rare

Name: A Beauty so Rare
Rating: 4.7 (1013 reviews)

by Tamera Alexander Book 2 in the Belmont Mansion Novels series.

First published 2014

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4.7(1,013)

Eleanor Braddock arrives at Belmont Mansion burdened by poverty, responsibility for her ailing father and the certainty that practical service matters more than romance. A dying soldier’s request leads her to plan a home for Civil War widows and children. Her work brings her into conflict with Marcus Gottfried, an Austrian archduke travelling under a concealed identity whose interests in architecture and horticulture challenge Eleanor’s utilitarian approach.

The story places charitable reform, women’s economic insecurity and postwar family disruption within Adelicia Acklen’s wealthy household. Eleanor and Marcus must decide whether rank, appearance and social expectation will determine their future, while faith turns their competing designs into a shared vocation of shelter, nourishment and dignity.