Though the banks of today’s Thames sport a different set of buildings and bridges from its 1817 predecessor, the river remains a maritime hub and a vital thread in the London tapestry.
Poised on the verge of the industrial revolution, working class ascendency, and the emergence of transportation and mechanical power as the forces that would write the history of the nineteenth century, Noble’s story juxtaposes two worlds: the brittle ostentation of Almack’s and other elite clubs in Regency London with the immense challenges and unbridled opportunities for anyone in New York State when the first shovel of dirt is turned to commence digging the Erie Canal. Contentious opinions, technological hurdles, and natural obstacles like weather and terrain abound. But the vision and persistence of Americans emerges as integral to the canal’s story, just as the rigid rules for dress, demeanor, and custom in England’s upper classes constrain a society in the throes of progressive reform.
Regency readers and history buffs will recognize many of the characters as Noble’s story unfolds. Machinations in the world of banking bring Henry Fauntleroy onstage—the original Ponzi, who successfully embezzled hundreds of thousands of pounds from Regency elite in the early 1800s. Joining Fauntleroy in the panoply of historical people and places in Noble are the profligate Prince Regent, Beau Brummel, the affable Lord Alvanley, the meretricious Harriet Wilson, the Duke of Wellington, the portrait artist Lawrence, the courageous Waterloo hero Frederick Ponsonby, Princess Lieven, the great clown Joseph Grimaldi, White’s, Almack’s, Grosvenor Square, St. George’s Church, Covent Garden, Waterloo Bridge, and Newgate Prison. They all play a role in this tale.
The Theatre Royal in Covent Garden has been replaced, renovated, and refurbished multiple times over the two centuries since Noble’s heroine first experienced excitement and glamour there. But today it is the very same Melpomene, salvaged from the Royal when it burned in 1856, who strikes a mournful pose in her niche on the south end of the Bow Street façade.
More than three centuries have passed since the Widow Bourne began selling groceries at No. 3 St. James’s Street. Her daughter married Mr. Pickering, and their success with the business gave us Pickering Place and the family lineage that led to the “Berry Brothers” specializing in wine and spirits in the shop next door at No. 3.
Into this set piece of 1817 Regency London steps Edwin Blake—clever, ambitious, determined to gain acceptance in the highest social circles. Keeping the beautiful and charming Miss Paton at his side to lend an aura of respectability, he cajoles his way into “the season.” Garnering the adulation of London’s elite, Miss Paton enjoys the excitements of the social whirl and suppresses her qualms about Edwin Blake, unaware of the jeopardy this brings her.
Edwin is soon forced to rethink his belief that power is bestowed by the mere perception of wealth. Business pressures provoked by the influential Duke of Dorland—a man he has never even met—promise to shatter Edwin’s newly established façade of glamor and gilt, and political developments in England threaten to unravel the dark secrets of his past. Creating havoc in the lives of all his connections, Edwin departs hastily for America with the grand plan of building a real-estate empire along the planned route of the Erie Canal that will open New York, and the nation, to the western frontier. Edwin, Miss Paton, and the duke must now embrace the same dilemma: Confronting one’s past and moving on demands new choices and renewed risk. Which of them is up to the challenge?
The wine shop where Noble’s Mr. Berry assists his customer under extraordinary circumstances looks today probably not all that different from the 1817 version. The name is slightly altered, now titled Berry Bros. & Rudd. Having supplied the Royal Family from George III onward, the business retains its reputation as the ultimate purveyor of fine wines and spirits, still catering to the carriage trade and holding two Royal Warrants.
When Noble’s story begins, St. George’s in Hanover Square was already almost a century old, and boasted dukes, earls, the revered Handel and, more recently, the wealthy families of the Belgravia and Grosvenor neighborhoods as comprising the parish’s history. Notwithstanding, St. George’s actively pursued a tradition of public assistance for the poor, the homeless, and the infirm, for which London had no shortage throughout the 1800s.
There is little wonder that much of London’s elite found the beauty and abundance of the Kent countryside a welcome escape whenever Parliament adjourned.
Care to join me now as I approach the mysterious Hardwick Old Hall?