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The Belles Dames Club
Miss Clarissa Wyckenham comes to London to join her pretty step-mother and finds that Mama-Nell has formed a discreet club for ladies. Soon she is pitched headlong into the deliciously wicked antics of the Belles Dames Club and finds herself in conflict with the disapproving Lord Alresford. This is a sparkling comedy of romance and adventure set at the end of the 18th-century. Now republished on Kindle as THE WAYWARD MISS WYCKENHAM
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Melinda Hammond
108 books49 followersI write under the names of Melinda Hammond and Sarah Mallory.
I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.
I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.
I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.
When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.
For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.
I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.
I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.
I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.
When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.
For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 19, 2020
4 stars
Quick read, I only started it this morning. I wonder if there's a story about Lady Gaunt....though the hero/heroine were very cute.
Quick read, I only started it this morning. I wonder if there's a story about Lady Gaunt....though the hero/heroine were very cute.
January 10, 2021
A fabulous, rollicking read!
I loved this book which gives it a rare five stars from me. The Miss Wyckenham of the title is enchanting, headstrong but still not too annoying.
Her stepmother and friends are great fun in introducing some daring times into their lives with their women only club and Alresford doesn't get his own way. Even though he thinks he will. The only thing about Alresford is that in many ways due to the loss of his fiancee he can be rather beta at times.
Throw in some dastardly action from Ullenwood and we're in for great times. Even though he's cold throughout his gift to Nell the step-mama at the end still suggests to me that he not only has a sense of humour but maybe thought more of her ultimately than he or anyone else might have believed.
I loved this book which gives it a rare five stars from me. The Miss Wyckenham of the title is enchanting, headstrong but still not too annoying.
Her stepmother and friends are great fun in introducing some daring times into their lives with their women only club and Alresford doesn't get his own way. Even though he thinks he will. The only thing about Alresford is that in many ways due to the loss of his fiancee he can be rather beta at times.
Throw in some dastardly action from Ullenwood and we're in for great times. Even though he's cold throughout his gift to Nell the step-mama at the end still suggests to me that he not only has a sense of humour but maybe thought more of her ultimately than he or anyone else might have believed.
June 4, 2014
Even if the storyline is quite similar to that of other novels set in the 18th Century London, UK, the flow of writing, language, composition of sentences, and spontaneity is rather impressive! Quite a fun to read, at least once!
The best part of reading such books is that you get to learn about the culture and the language of the 18th Century London.
The best part of reading such books is that you get to learn about the culture and the language of the 18th Century London.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews