REVIEW: The Deserted Heart by Mary Lancaster

Dear Ms. Lancaster:

I was motivated to pick up this 2018 book by the description in Pam Rosenthal’s October guest column – the pull of a new-to-me author and the book’s description were enough to draw me in.

Charlotte Maybury is used to being in the background – she’s sandwiched in age between two beautiful sisters, and a stutter and history of frailty are enough to relegate her to the status of “manages everything” daughter. (The other two, Thomasina and Henrietta, are destined for the marriag...