Miss Arabella Leeds, teenage daughter of a prominent New York family, and Aubrey Paxton, pampered "high yellow" house servant of wealthy New Orleans slaveholders, are destined to meet and fall in love. But before their paths can cross, Arabella must abandon the comfortable and familiar for Victorian London, the allure of the forbidden, and a journey toward self-discovery. By the summer of 1862, Aubrey too is faced with the loss of his insular world to family betrayal, murder and the chaos of America's Civil War.
In a unique and absorbing narrative twist, we follow the couple's adventures through their individual thoughts and writings: Aubrey's imaginary missives to his beloved long-lost grandmother, and Arabella's private diaries.
As the pair make their unknowing way towards each other, they encounter high adventure, erotic awakening, long-buried family secrets and the racy underpinnings of corseted nineteenth-century society. But their greatest challenge will lie in their shared passion, which places them forever outside the conventions of their time.
An epic adventure, rich in vivacity and historical detail, with a moving love story at its heart, 'Letters From An Age Of Reason' is an extraordinarily powerful, passionate and eloquent debut.
