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Back The Winter Garden Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. ALSO BY ALEXANDRA BELL
  4. DEDICATION
  5. Prologue
  6. Part One
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. Part Two
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. Part Three
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. Acknowledgements
  54. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

July 1836

Dearest Beatrice,

I have returned to my family’s London town house for a brief time and have hardly had a moment to put pen to paper. Relying on the long-distance postal service can be such a bother in these circumstances, so I have put together the clockwork pigeon that you are hopefully gazing at now with much wonder! He will carry messages between us, and anyone else you care to write to. The pigeon will find you, no matter where you happen to be, and thus allow me to keep up with your wonderful adventures.

I have become rather specialised in clockwork birds of late. After we met at your wedding, the Duke of Chalkley commissioned our company to make a whole party of peacocks for his pleasure garden. I have to say, I find your old fiancé most charming.

The ghost butterfly sounds extraordinary! Happy hunting – I’m sure it will soon be yours!

Your most loving friend,

Rosa

CHAPTER FIVE

July 1836

Rosa had always had a plan, where marriage was concerned, and she wasn’t going to be persuaded from it by anyone. It was therefore with an immense feeling of dismay that her own feelings had betrayed her at Beatrice’s wedding. She’d just arrived at Half Moon House when she noticed her friend, James Sheppard, giving directions to the under-gardeners regarding the care of the orchids. The sun made his dark brown hair shine and his shirt was rolled up to the elbows, exposing forearms that were unfashionably tanned from his time abroad. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, and to her dismay, it struck Rosa quite forcefully that he was the most handsome man at the gathering.

This was a notion she knew full well was not true. James was distinctly average-looking by any objective measure, and certainly he wasn’t in any way fashionable. Normally he looked as if he’d just come straight from the stables, and Rosa had never seen him wear a shirt with so much as a single frill or flounce. He was frequently observed outside without a hat. And he never seemed to use a drop of Macassar oil to style his hair. The only explanation was that she was viewing him through a lens – one that was more than mere friendly regard. That she had, in fact, developed deeper feelings for him.