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These Old Shades

by Georgette Heyer Book 1 in the Alastair-Audley series.

First published 1926

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4.5(8,531)

Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon, purchases a red-haired street boy named Léon in Paris and discovers that the child is Léonie, a young woman whose appearance offers him a way to settle an old score with the Comte de Saint-Vire. He takes her into his household and begins shaping her place in aristocratic society.

Avon’s plan moves between Paris and England, combining disguise, inheritance and revenge with Léonie’s fierce loyalty to the man who rescued her. As the truth of her birth emerges, his controlled scheme becomes complicated by an attachment he did not intend to feel.

Historical Periods

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