Daphne is intrigued by the news in Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, a fashionable anonymous gossip column, that Simon Basset has returned from abroad to claim his title as the Tenth Duke of Hastings. Daphne faces another social season and her domineering mother, Lady Violet Bridgerton, has great hopes for whom Daphne might secure as a husband. The novel’s main action opens with Daphne Bridgerton, a young woman and one of eight children from a prominent London family. Simon, proud and self-reliant, decides to reject all his father stands for. The Duke rejects Simon and attempts to deny him education and resources. The duke’s obsession with family legacy and his high expectations results in tragedy for his son, Simon, who stutters. The Ninth Duke of Hastings celebrates the birth of a son after years of infertility despite his wife dying in childbirth. The prologue introduces the Basset family, who hold the title to Great Britain’s dukedom of Hastings. Quinn’s characters use both “stutter” and the British English term “stammer” in analytical sections and paraphrases, this guide uses the term “speech disability.” A note on disability and language: though stuttering is no longer the preferred medical term for what is now called Childhood Onset Fluency Disorder, the term is still in popular use. Content warnings for this text include childhood trauma, ableist language, and issues of sexual consent.
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