What’s in a Name? – Jenny Hambly

The excellent first novel in a new series The Residents of Ashwick Hall.

Miss Emma Wynn has spent the last year at Ashwick Hall under the protection of Lady Westcliffe. Her uncle and brother think her dead and must continue to do so until she attains her majority. She must prove she is a fit guardian to re-establish herself and protect her brother. When permitted to visit her friend, Lady Eagleton, she is drawn to the reclusive Mr Carne. She suspects, however, that some scandal is attached to him, and she cannot afford to be tainted by association.

Falsely accused of a heinous act, Mr Oliver Carne returns from India a broken man, his name besmirched and his career in ruins. He retreats to the estate his uncle left him in Cornwall, refusing all visitors. But when his neighbour, The Marquess of Eagleton, lures him from his self-imposed isolation, he meets Miss Emma Wynn and begins to realise he might have even more to lose if he doesn’t reclaim his honour.