Sheri Cobb South: The Weaver Takes A Wife

Haughty Lady Helen Radney is one of London’s most beautiful women and the daughter of a duke, but her sharp tongue has frightened away most of her suitors. When her father gambles away his fortune, the duke’s only chance for recouping his losses lies in marrying off Lady Helen to any man wealthy enough to take a bride with nothing to recommend her but a lovely face and an eight-hundred-year-old pedigree.

Enter Mr. Ethan Brundy, once an illegitimate workhouse orphan, now owner of a Lancashire textile mill and one of England’s richest men. When he glimpses Lady Helen at Covent Garden Theatre, he is instantly smitten and vows to marry her. But this commonest of commoners will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to win the heart of his aristocratic bride.

If you love A Civil Contract, you may like The Weaver Takes a Wife. A Cit arranges a marriage of convenience with a tonnish beauty and the two must figure out how to make their marriage work. This shortie has some funny moments and a lot of heart.

The setup: wealthy mill owner and former workhouse orphan is visiting Town when he spies Lady Helen at Covent Garden. The Incomparable beauty is also a noted Shrew of the First Order. She stops short of actually cutting the “weaver” who is obviously with friends of the Upper Orders.

Ethan immediately approaches Helen’s father, the “Dook”, for permission to court her. And after dipping way too deeply, the Duke recognizes that sacrificing his daughter to the Cit is the only way to avoid debtor’s prison. Lady Helen finds herself ripped from all she knows and thrown into the arms of the weaver.

Falling in line with the marriage of convenience romance, the H/H must find common ground. Ethan allows for them to get used to each other for six months of abstinence. Lady Helen, meanwhile, tries to grasp at strings of her former life only to find they don’t satisfy as much. In fact, she starts to realize why all of that glitter and glamour might have made her a bit crabby. Meanwhile Ethan gets the obligatory makeover and they do get the opportunity to do some tonnish activities, but overall discover life outside the Upper Orders may offer more promise.

I liked the working class hero, especially since this one is told with a more comedic tone than others I have read. I love Industrializing London but the dour and sour scenes of the rookeries aren’t necessarily what I want to snuggle up with when I read romance. You don’t get that here. Ethan is one of the wealthier men in England, and although he doesn’t flaunt it he certainly doesn’t expect his wife to go among the masses.

I also like that he marries an absolute brat. Obviously, the attraction is mostly physical, but Cobb South somehow makes the romance believable and offers enough of a character arc that it feels sustainable. Helen has always been a bit dissatisfied with her lot, and seeing the world through less exalted heights gives her the opportunity to self identify why. And, at the same time, discover a real attraction to her lowborn husband.

There are a lot of improbabilities with this story, and although I found many of the details to be just so, I read with a suspension of disbelief which served me well. I recommend other readers do the same, and just go with it.

There were several other books after this one in a series, so if you are looking for light, sweet and short you should check Cobb South out. I likely will be pursuing them, and may even read this one again.

5 Stars 4 out of 6 A short, sweet marriage of convenience