The Dashing Debutante
By Alissa Baxter  

      Alexandra Grantham is appalled by the conditions of poverty of the tenants of the neighboring estates. Since the owners are uncaring, she decides to do something about it.

     She becomes a female Robin Hood. Disguised as a highwayman, she holds up the coaches of the gentry and gives the loot to the tenants. Her success is terminated with the arrival of Robert Beaumont, the Duke of Stanford, to claim his inheritance nearby. He unmasks Alexandra and forces her promise to cease her actions by his making the landowners change their ways.

     Alexandra is to go to London for the Season. The Duke decides to single her out and guarantee her success.

     Alexandra has stated that she isn't interested in being married. She treasures her independence. But the Duke and events conspire to change her mind.

     Although the outcome of the meeting between Alexandra and the Duke of Stanford is inevitable, the ensuing events present the reader with a delightful romp through the mansions, the ballrooms, Almack's Assembly, Hyde Park and Vauxhall Gardens.

     The author has successfully depicted the society, customs and manners of the Polite Circles of regency England.

     This story is well written with characters you can't help relating to. The Dashing Debutante is a charming book well worth spending a few hours reading it.

     Let us hope that this is just the first of Alissa Baxter's work and that we will be reading more of it in the near future.