One of my all time favorite romances is Meredith Duran’s The Duke of Shadows. I read it, for the first time, a few years after it was published in 2008. The story, that of a half Indian/half Anglo Duke and the English artist he falls in love with, riveted me. The book begins in Delhi in May of 1857 a few days before the Indian Rebellion. From there, it takes the reader through a roiling nation and then leaps forward four years to a London covered in smoke and steam.
I just reread it for what is probably the fourth time while traveling in India. It read as historical fiction–it so perfectly portrays that time and place. I was, in our travels, in Delhi and in Shimla, the summer capital of the Raj, and everywhere I went, I saw the history she brings to life in The Duke of Shadows.
It is a book I think many would shy away from writing today. Julian is sympathetic to the Brits–to a point–and to the Indians. Duran deftly portrays evil on both sides as well. Julian is never a white savior–the reader sees that he could be both British and Indian. It is Duran’s debut novel and she, a young white woman, writes natives and conquerors alike with assurance. (I am still unhappy that the only one of Elizabeth Essex’s original Reckless Bride series she has NOT republished after St. Martin dropped her books is the one set in India. It is my understanding that the book is one she is no longer comfortable claiming.) I am grateful that Duran’s book is still available to all.
I have read every book Duran has published. From 2008 to 2018, she released eleven novels and three novellas, all historical romances. (She has received nine DIKs and four Bs here.) My favorite is The Duke of Shadows although I also adore Luck Be A Lady and Written on Your Skin neither of which we have reviewed. If I had to pick my next fave after those three it would be Bound By Your Touch.
My least liked is probably The Sins of Lord Lockwood which, though superbly written, is a bit too dark for me. (Caz loved it.)
On her new website (thank you Kim for pointing it out!), she writes she’d like to finish a manuscript. Would that it be another extraordinary historical romance!
Are you a Duran reader? If so, which of her works are your favorites?
