This book is the first of three books about the Merriwell Sisters, all set in the early 1800s in England. (Of course, doing things backwards as I often do, I read the third book first, but I liked it well enough to want to read the first two.) In this book, Minerva Merriwell, the oldest of three sisters, is noticed by a wealthy young Earl, Hugh Standish, when he sees her trying to get an employer to pay her for her work and being rebuffed. He intervenes successfully and she is grateful for his help.
Hugh's mother and her friends have been sending many young women to him in an attempt to find him a suitable wife. In order to get them off his back, he tells his mother that he has found a young woman named Minerva, who is quite fictional. When Hugh learns that the young woman he has assisted just happens to be named Minerva, he takes her into his confidence. Now that his mother is coming to visit, he asks the real Minerva to pose as his fiancée for a few weeks, and that he'll pay her for her help.
Minerva has two younger sisters, and it is a package deal. Hugh even sends for a team of seamstresses to outfit the young women properly, and along with his butler, he tries to teach them how to behave so that they pass as young women of upper class. Hugh coaches Minerva on the fictional details that he has included in his letters to his mother. Will Minerva (and her sisters) be convincing enough to satisfy Hugh's mother?
This book is a fast, enjoyable read.
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