In this engrossing companion to The Great Misfortune of Stella Sedgwick set in 1860s Paris, prim and proper Olivia Witherson is poised to become the wife of a wealthy businessman, until she’s shown a side of the city she’s never seen—and considers a potential future she never imagined. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton and The Davenports.

Olivia Witherson has it all figured out. Once she’s married to Samuel Desir, a handsome (and rich) businessman in the making, she’ll be able to step into the life of upper-class comfort she’s always known she’s destined for. Getting kidnapped by a gang of ruffians and being held for ransom in their grubby headquarters on the outskirts of Paris… was not part of the plan.

Olivia is sure that Jac Santil, head of the Saints Tristes gang, is the most loathsome, infuriating person she’s ever met. But the longer she spends with the Saints, the more good she sees them doing—distributing food and medicine to the poor, taking in orphaned children, and organizing the exploited laborers of Paris, the same workers who staff Samuel’s factories. Soon, Olivia must acknowledge that there may be more to the Saints, and to Jac, than meets the eye, and that the life of luxury she’d always dreamed of may never come to fruition.