1. What does Princess Louise’s early observation that keeping one’s thoughts from showing on one’s face is “simply something one does” tell us about the world she and Lady Margaret inhabit? Are women still expected to do this today?
2. Margaret’s father, the domineering Duke of Buccleuch, describes her at the start of the book as “immature and overly dramatic.” Do you agree? Does Margaret’s character change significantly over the course of the novel?
3. How do the snippets from the gossipy Illustrated London News fit into Margaret’s story? How do you compare that paper’s reputation-destroying power to the tabloids of today?
4. What do you make of the advice that her sister Victoria and Princess Louise give Margaret, telling her to harden her resolve and marry the Earl of Killin? Would you have married him?
5. What do you think about Victoria’s admission that she had “reservations as to our suitability” when she first met her husband, but that with “determined effort” on her part, she had developed “affection and esteem” for him?
6. Was Margaret right to reject Father Sebastian? What kind of future would they have had together if she’d taken a leap of faith and married him without her parents’ permission? Do you think they would have been happy together?
7. The Duchess of Buccleuch, Margaret’s mother, tells her, “You are my daughter and you always will be . . . you must never forget that.” But she also says, “You understand that what the duke decrees, I must implement. All I can do is attempt to soften the blow.” How much freedom does the duchess truly have? Is she also a victim of the strict social rules of the time? Of her autocratic husband?
8. Why does Margaret turn down Lochiel when he comes to see her in Ireland? Did her decision make sense to you? Would marrying him at that point have been a solution to her problems? Why does she accept his proposal years later?
9. What do you make of Margaret’s friendships with the women around her? Besides her lifelong friendship with Princess Louise, what about her alliances with her maids Molly and Breda, Susannah Elmhirst, Lady Julia, and her companion, Marion? How do they help guide Margaret’s journey?
10. What opportunities does America offer Margaret that simply wouldn’t have been available to her in Britain? How is high society different in New York than in London? How is it similar?
11. Has Margaret truly reconciled with her parents at the end of the book? Do you believe the duke and duchess eventually come to accept her as she is?

Read On

Read On

More by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

A MOST INTRIGUING LADY

Coming in August 2022, the new novel from Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott is a duke’s daughter with a knack for discreetly solving high society’s most intriguing mysteries.

About the Publisher

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.