First Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

None So Pretty describes, with a sensibility and conviction unusual in historical fiction, the life of a young girl brought up in a large, aristocratic, but impecunious family, and married off at an early age to a neighbouring squire who nightly drinks himself under the table. It is not long before the young wife discovers that her sottish husband keeps a mistress at his lodge gates, and that he does not propose to consummate his marriage. Relief from a life of intolerable loneliness comes in the form of a young cavalier who stumbles into her bedroom one night after a hearty carouse downstairs, and the acquaintance thus started swiftly ripens into a deeper affection. To disclose the final sequence of events in this curious drama would be to spoil the story for a prospective reader; one must be content to conclude that by commending Miss Irwin's fascinatingly life-like and original characters, and her gift for creating vivid, unforgettable mental pictures.

'The Disentanglers' by Andrew Lang is a delightful novel about two young men who start a company to dissolve unsuitable engagements. Although they are broke, they are clever and resourceful enough to enlist the help of their peers in order to carry out their missions. The plot twists are surprising and often unexpected, and provide a fascinating glimpse into 19th-century technology and anthropology.