Review of The Forgotten Duke by Sofi Laporte

Alone.  No identity.  No memory.  In an unfamiliar place.  Her attending physician is a widower with children.  He offers her his name, a home and a ready-made family.  A place to belong.  It is an arrangement that works for both of them until she is recognized 8 years later.

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I was not familiar with the author, Sofi Laporte, until I started reading the Viennese Waltz book series.  I was transfixed by the first book in the series, The Forgotten Duke.  The plot is unimaginable and perhaps a bit frightening to consider the possibilities.  No one would want to literally lose a beloved family member traveling to another state or county with no preset destination.  Consider that this story takes place in the early 1800's when there were no cellphones, or even phones, and no way to track a person who has disappeared.

When a body is found washed up on a riverbank, she is identified only by her clothing.  Her husband buries her and spends the next 8 years grieving his young wife and a life that should have been.

 

The Forgotten Duke (Viennese Waltz Book 1)
 

 The Forgotten Duke
(Viennese Waltz Book 1)Check PriceWhile attending the Congress of Vienna with her brother, Lady Evie is shocked by what, or rather who, she sees one afternoon.  When she calls out to her best friend and stops her in the street, the woman is taken aback, insisting that her name is Helena Arenheim, not Catherine.  But Evangeline (Evie) is certain she is Catherine.  She notes that she even has the distinguishing birthmark on her cheek.  

Evie tells her brother, Julius Stafford-Hill, Duke of Aldingbourne, that she has seen Catherine and that she is clearly not dead.  Julius is incredulous, even somewhat angry at Evie for making such a ridiculous and painful claim.  Then a few nights later at a ball, he sees Helena playing the piano and is astonished.  Still unconvinced even by his own eyes, the Duke, his sister, and the Duke's secretary show up at Helena's home.  They meet her children, the oldest is not much younger than she is.  But the one that really captures their attention is the youngest of the children.  He is a replica of the Duke as a child.  Could it be possible that the Duke's wife is not dead and that he even has a child?  

 

Historical Information

The Congress of Vienna was in fact a real event in history.  It was a diplomatic assembly of representatives who reorganized Europe after the Napoleonic war hoping to establish a balance of power.  It lasted from September 1814 to June 1815.  

It certainly makes the perfect setting with an adequate length of time for this story to take place. 

         

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