The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide

by Eloisa James

  McKenna, Rosalie Mary Malcolm—Kiss Me, Annabel

  Years ago, Rosy was betrothed to Ewan, the Earl of Ardmore. In a horrible turn of events, Rosy was sent to the earl in a carriage that was intercepted by ruffians. She wasn’t recovered until a week later. Rosy’s story differs markedly between the published and unpublished versions of Kiss Me, Annabel.

  Metta, Miss—The Taming of the Duke

  Miss Metta is a governess for the children of Imogen and Rafe, the Duke and Duchess of Holbrook. She’s not particularly stalwart, and (Eloisa says), she later moved on to a less exuberant household.

  “Mama!” Imogen turned around. Her firstborn child, Genevieve . . . lowered her voice in the important way of a seven-year-old who understands proprieties. “Miss Metta has had palpitations from excitement, and now Luke is running about with his pants below his knees!”

  Imogen curtsied to Griselda and Lady Blechschmidt. “If you’ll forgive me, ladies, I’m afraid there’s a domestic crisis behind stage.”

  The Taming of the Duke

  Mitford, Countess—Kiss Me, Annabel, Pleasure for Pleasure

  Lady Mitford holds only one party a year, and it’s not to be missed. Her events are wildly anticipated by every member of the ton lucky enough to receive an invitation. In Kiss Me, Annabel, Lady Mitford’s garden party has a Renaissance theme.

  Those who were, for whatever reason, uninterested in mating games enjoyed Lady Mitford’s considerable efforts toward producing true Renaissance cuisine. There was the year, for instance, when a pie was split open to reveal five cross and extremely undercooked doves who promptly flew into the air. When one of them dropped a noxious substance on the head of an upstart young lord, the pie was deemed an enormous success.

  Kiss Me, Annabel

  Mitford, Lord—Kiss Me, Annabel

  Lord Mitford is proud of his lady’s annual event, though sometimes he privately bemoans the more dramatic aspects of her ideas. His plump physique is not flattered by Renaissance clothing, for example, particularly by canary-yellow stockings. What’s more, he would rather not greet his guests seated on a gilded armchair with a suspicious resemblance to a throne (Mitford is well aware that he looks about as regal as a carnival barker). And he doesn’t care for the small monkey tied to Lady Mitford’s chair with a silk ribbon. As he tells his friends later, that monkey shat all over the garden. But he’s a cheerful fellow who loves his wife, so he endures yellow stockings and incontinent monkeys.

  Mucklowe, Lady—Pleasure for Pleasure

  Henrietta, Lady Mucklowe, is a consummate hostess who knows exactly what it takes to make a ball into a tremendous success: a single stroke of genius. Her biggest success so far occurred when she invited Lord Byron to read aloud his favorite love poem, bringing every wanton woman in London to her doors.

  Mucklowe, Lord—Pleasure for Pleasure

  Lady Mucklowe’s husband, Freddie.

  Freddie could be seen as the spur behind Henrietta’s brilliant party-planning skills.

  Henrietta Mucklowe told herself for the fortieth time that if she had been lucky enough to have a more interesting spouse, she wouldn’t have such imaginative parties. Because if Freddie weren’t Freddie, they might actually have something to talk about at home, and she wouldn’t spend most of her time dreaming about fantastic entertainments.

  Pleasure for Pleasure

  N

  Nash, John—Much Ado About You

  John Nash (1752–1835) was a British architect and landscape designer. Lucius hired Nash for a few years to completely redesign his country estate, Strawberry Hill.

  O

  Ormond, Duke of—A Midsummer Night’s Disgrace

  Thaddeus, Duke of Ormond, has just returned to England after spending several years abroad perfecting his ability to play the piano. Much to the Earl of Mayne’s delight, he has every intention of selling his father’s stables and devoting himself to the musical arts. But he does have one other object of devotion: the lady whom he decided at the tender age of eight to make his duchess, Miss Cecilia Bellingworth.

  P

  Pearce, Uncle—Kiss Me, Annabel

  Pearce is Ewan’s great-uncle. He’s almost ninety but sharp as a tack; his favorite activity is cheating at cards for money. According to Ewan, one should never allow him to deal, or he’ll take every penny you have.

  Perwinkle, Tuppy—Duchess in Love, Kiss Me, Annabel

  Peregrine Perwinkle, known as “Tuppy,” is a gentleman who loves to fish, according to Mayne, who can’t imagine anything more tedious than sitting on a riverbank in the rain. Tuppy appears in an earlier book by Eloisa, Duchess in Love. His wife, Carola, has left for her mother in a huff and never returned, but Tuppy privately suspects that she left him because it is “considered tedious to live with one’s husband.” When he and Carola end up at the same house party, Carola shows her interest in fishing by reading a book about newts, and Tuppy learns some new skills in bed, and the marriage is mended.

  Poley, Bethany—Pleasure for Pleasure—(b. 1822, survived only two days)

  Daughter of Lord and Lady Ardmore, and never forgotten. See the bonus chapter taking place ten years after Pleasure for Pleasure.

  Poley, Clementina—Pleasure for Pleasure—(b. 1820)

  Daughter of Lord and Lady Ardmore.

  Poley, Elspeth—Pleasure for Pleasure—(b. 1822)

  A daughter of Lord and Lady Ardmore, she lost her twin, Bethany, at birth. Her mother thinks that she is so wild because Bethany didn’t live. In the bonus chapter, Tess points out that “Elspeth is a gorgeous, spirited little person because that’s who she is, not because darling Bethany couldn’t be there with her.”

  Poley, Samuel Raphael—Future Earl of Ardmore—Kiss Me, Annabel, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure, (b. 1818)

  The son of Lord and Lady Ardmore. When last seen (in the bonus chapter taking place ten years after Pleasure for Pleasure), he is in love with a giggling, buxom maiden named Marge. Luckily, he is young enough that one hopes he will look past the baker’s daughter. He is also attempting, unsuccessfully, to grow his hair to his waist, so as to resemble one of the ancient Picts.

  Poley, Tobin—Kiss Me, Annabel

  The Earl of Ardmore’s uncle on his father’s side has a somewhat bloodthirsty nature. He spends most of his time hunting, and the household eats a great deal of venison, thanks to Tobin.

  Pool, Lord—Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke

  Lord Pool handles grief for his deceased wife in a remarkable manner: his hair changes color, from gray to black. Rumor has it he had been acting like an old fool, even embarking upon elk farming.

  Pythian-Adams, Lady Ancilla—The Taming of the Duke

  Miss Pythian-Adams’s mother, Lady Ancilla, has the air of a woman who knows she is still beautiful and is, therefore, accepting middle age with amusement. You can tell with one glance that she takes her own importance with a grain of salt and is conventional without being tedious.

  Pythian-Adams, Miss Gillian—aka Gillian Spenser—Much Ado About You, Kiss Me, Annabel, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

  Gillian Pythian-Adams is a beautiful heiress, known as a cultivated and talented young lady. She was engaged to Draven, Lord Maitland for two years before he finally eloped with Imogen Essex, much to her relief. After a good deal of determined flirtation and some persuasive exchanges of poetry, Gillian marries Mr. Gabe Spenser, the illegitimate half brother of Rafe Jourdain, the Duke of Holbrook. It should be noted that Eloisa compares herself to Gillian in Part Four of this companion.

  Rafe remembered her quite clearly as a young woman who was not tedious—but certainly not conventional. It would be an extraordinarily foolish man who didn’t look past Miss Pythian-Adams’s delicate features and Cupid’s bow mouth and realize that she was a true eccentric.

  The Taming of the Duke

  R

  Ribble and/or Rimple—Kiss Me, Annabel

  Rimple was Mayne’s butler at his London home in Kiss
Me, Annabel, but by Pleasure for Pleasure, his butler had become Ribble. Whatever his name, he seems to have been an uncomfortable servant.

  Rimple was a highly principled individual who had made it clear that he would countenance his employer’s debauchery only as long as proprieties were observed.

  Kiss Me, Annabel

  Rochester, Bishop of—Much Ado About You, Pleasure for Pleasure

  The Earl of Mayne’s uncle, who initially hoped to marry Mayne to Tess, but finally succeeded in wedding him to Josie. He is rooted out of his bed in the middle of the night by Mayne, and only agrees to conduct the marriage after Garret threatens that he will complain to his mother, the bishop’s ferocious sister.

  Rocque, Madame—Pleasure for Pleasure

  The modiste who transformed Josie after the dreaded corset debacle. Happily, she is still designing clothing a few years later, because she also transforms Cecilia Bellingworth in the novella written just for this companion, A Midsummer Night’s Disgrace.

  Rumford, Count—Kiss Me, Annabel

  Benjamin Thomas Rumford (1753–1814) was an American physicist who came up with all sorts of wonderful inventions such as central heating, the smokeless chimney, the kitchen oven, thermal underwear, and the pressure cooker. Rumford stoves appear in many Eloisa novels, as she shudders at the idea of cooking over an open flame, and likes to give cooks in her novels as much scope for their genius as possible.

  “My father ruthlessly modernized,” Ewan explained. “He was fascinated by Count Rumford’s inventions, and had several Rumford stoves installed, and a Rumford range placed in the kitchen that provides heated water.”

  Kiss Me, Annabel

  S

  Severy, Lady Cecily—Kiss Me, Annabel, Pleasure for Pleasure

  The Duke of Claire’s eldest daughter has a magnificent dowry. She isn’t bad-looking, but she’s gone three seasons without a marriage proposal, likely because she lisps and pretends that she is approximately five years old by talking in baby talk to her suitors. She was considered as a candidate for romantic rehabilitation when it came to writing a novella in the Essex Sisters world, but Eloisa decided her penchant for baby talk offered too severe a handicap to romance.

  Shakespeare, William—Much Ado About You, Kiss Me, Annabel, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

  The name Shakespeare occurs in the novels how many times?

  Much Ado About You, ten times.

  Kiss Me, Annabel, nine times.

  The Taming of the Duke, fifteen times, including once in the author’s note.

  Pleasure for Pleasure, twenty-two times.

  The frequent appearance of Shakespeare’s name could perhaps be more than a coincidence, as the author is a Shakespeare professor. In fact, Eloisa describes Gillian Pythian-Adams, who ruthlessly quotes the bard in order to discourage her fiancé’s plans to marry her, as a joke on herself.

  Sibble, Baron—Pleasure for Pleasure

  He is one of Josie’s brother-in-law’s friends and always asks Josie for two dances at every single occasion. He seems to like Josie for herself and doesn’t dance with her as a favor. In short, he is a wallflower’s dream.

  Skevington—Pleasure for Pleasure

  Skevington is a tall man with a charming smile and a lock of brown hair falling over his forehead. Mayne believes that Skevington’s embroidered waistcoat is over the top—but admits that overdressing isn’t a mortal sin.

  Smiley, Mr.—Much Ado About You, Pleasure for Pleasure

  Smiley has spent the last twenty years as Mr. Felton’s butler at his London residence. He’s excited about the impromptu wedding of the Earl of Mayne taking place under his roof, but he thinks it could have happened at a better hour.

  It was time for him to retire to his snug little sitting room, where Mrs. Smiley would have a pan of hot water ready for his feet. Powerful trouble it was, standing on his feet all day long, and much of that on marble floors.

  Pleasure for Pleasure

  Spenser, Miss Mary—The Taming of the Duke

  Daughter of Mr. Gabriel Spenser and the actress Loretta Hawes.

  Spenser, Mr. Gabriel “Gabe”—The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

  A scholar of biblical history, Gabe is the illegitimate half brother of Rafe Jourdain, the Duke of Holbrook. Gabe’s father and mother were quite devoted to each other, and his father left a bequest to his mother and him. For a good part of his childhood, Gabe had no idea he was illegitimate.

  Gabe has Rafe’s large body, albeit with no softness in the waist. Both have unruly brown hair, and those large feet. The curve of Gabe’s lip, the cleft in his chin, the square jaw were all similar to Rafe’s features. Even the way Gabe taps his middle finger against the arm of the chair is precisely the kind of fidget that Rafe did when he had an unpleasant subject to broach. These similarities explain why it’s possible for Rafe to pretend to be Gabe wooing Imogen. Meanwhile, Gabe is actually wooing the beautiful heiress Miss Gillian Pythian-Adams, whom he marries.

  Rafe’s head was spinning. He had just discovered that he himself was named after an archangel and now it seemed that his brother was a scholar. A biblical scholar? For all Gabe looked like Beelzebub himself. “Damn me pink,” he said. “Father didn’t send you into that field because he named you with such ambition, did he?”

  “The same nomenclature didn’t turn you into a priest. No. Your father did pay for me to go to Cambridge, however. I am still there, at Emmanuel College.”

  “Is it bloody difficult to pass those exams?” Rafe said with ready sympathy. He’d been to Oxford himself, and although he found it easy enough, everyone knew that Cambridge was full of brilliant men who prided themselves on actually teaching something to their students.

  “In fact, I did manage to pass the exams,” his brother said gravely. “I am a professor of divinity.”

  The Taming of the Duke

  Stewart, Mr. and Mrs.—Much Ado About You

  Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are a married couple who never speak to each other. Mrs. Stewart (who lives close to the Essexes’ land in Scotland), talks of her husband in the third person only, even when he is standing beside her: “He doesn’t care for asparagus,” she might say, with Mr. Stewart just at her shoulder. “He will only eat cottage pie, and that only on a second Tuesday.”

  Swinnerton, John—The Taming of the Duke

  John Swinnerton is an actor, and London’s leading man. His black hair and white skin give him such a romantic air that ladies have been known to faint at the very sight of him. Not that he is in the least romantic off the stage. Swinnerton never leers at Loretta. He never leers at any woman, as a matter of fact.

  T

  Tallboys, Lord—Pleasure for Pleasure

  This young gentleman eagerly courts Josie. Tallboys is only four-and-twenty, and Mayne believes him too young, though even Mayne has to admit that he is a good man with an excellent estate.

  Thurman, Eliot Governor—Pleasure for Pleasure

  Eliot Governor Thurman is one of Eloisa’s few truly villainous characters: a craven, cruel social climber, with a virulent dislike of women. He eagerly repeats Darlington’s description of Josie as a “Scottish Sausage.” Yet he himself is an “English Sausage,” if sausages came in a peculiar bell shape. He has a dimpled double chin and glinting, small blue eyes. He’d been called an ass so many times that he likely took it as a compliment. He comes to a very bad end.

  Thurman, Mr. Henry—Pleasure for Pleasure

  Henry Thurman, Eliot Thurman’s father, spent his life working at the printing press enterprise his grandfather started and has a smell of the printing press around him. He managed to send his only son to a fancy school, thinking that Eliot would elevate the family into the gentry. He borrowed some money and thought it would come through in the percents . . . but Lucius Felton called in the loan. He was ruined as a result of his son’s near-rape of Josie, though he has no idea as to the cause, and Lucius, characteristically, pays for Thurman’s younger son to join the
military. Lucius also spares Mrs. Thurman’s jointure so that she can purchase a small house in the village where she grew up.

  Troutt, Mrs. Lizzie—A Gentleman Never Tells

  Lizzie is Catrina Windingham’s sister. After an unpleasant and unconsummated marriage, which ended in her husband’s scandalous death in his mistress’s bed, she is out of mourning and pays a visit to Catrina’s country estate. The only thing she wants is to be left to read books in peace. But her older sister has other ideas.

  V

  Vestris, Eliza—The Taming of the Duke

  Eliza Vestris (1797–1856) was a famous Georgian actress and opera singer. She starred in a current production at the Covent Garden Theatre.

  W

  West, Mr. Benjamin—Much Ado About You

  Mr. West (1738–1820) was a famous Anglo-American portrait artist during the Regency period. Before marrying Tess, Lucius Felton bought beautiful homes for himself, replete with portraits of other people’s ancestors. Mr. West’s painting of a Lady Boothby hangs in his bedchamber.

  “A Lady Boothby. I am not certain of her first name. The portrait was by Benjamin West and dates to the 1780s.”

  Tess blinked at Lady Boothby. “She’s probably still alive,” she pointed out.

  “I quite like her,” Lucius said.

  “So do I,” Tess agreed. “But I am not quite certain that I wish to share my chambers with Lady Boothby.”

  Much Ado About You

  Whittingham, Lady—Kiss Me, Annabel

  At Lady Mitford’s garden party, Lady Whittingham strolls toward Imogen with her feckless husband; Imogen smiles. Lady Whittingham turns her head and walks on. For a moment Imogen pauses as if she’d been struck in the stomach, but then she too walks on, Lady Whittingham’s snub forgotten.

  Willis, Mr.—Kiss Me, Annabel