Fin de Siècle. The Fairies are weeping

By Carragh Sheridan

London, 19th Century.

Victoria Ashton is the only daughter of a family born of noble lineage, but on the brink of poverty. Her parents arrange her marriage to Edward Greenwood, the son of merchants, who, while not of noble birth, is of great wealth.
This union could save the Ashton family and revive the family fortunes.
Victoria however, does not want to go through with this marriage as she is afraid of finding unhappiness. But her parents are adamant that she must marry young Mr Greenwood, even though she has never met him.
So, on a cold winter's evening, Victoria decides to run away. She runs away from home but she doesn't know the city around her and soon finds herself lost in a gloomy London.
On the way, she meets young Ted. He emerges from a tavern of the lowest order, and yet he soon proves himself to be a gentleman and even offers to take her home,
Although she does not wish to return home, she accepts the stranger's help.
Unexpectedly, and just as the first snow of the season floats down from the winter skies above London, Victoria's heart is set ablaze by the young Ted.
And so Victoria finds herself set before the worst dilemma of her life.
Edward or Ted? Duty or love? Can the young woman make a decision? Should she come back home and marry Edward, so she can save her family's destiny? Or should she run away with Ted, a gentleman of whom she knows nothing?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Words & More Books
• Release date: May 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9791221343250

Book preview

This story is a work of fiction.

Names, places, characters and facts

are the product of author's imagination.

Any resemblance to events, locales, or persons,

living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Original Title: Quando piangono le fate

Italian Edition Copyright © 2016 by Carragh Sheridan

English Edition Copyright © 2017 by Carragh Sheridan

All rights reserved.

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Fin de Siècle.

The Fairies are weeping

historical romance tale

by Carragh Sheridan

Translate by: Brigid McLaughlin

The fairies are weeping

London, 1890.

A sombre bell tolled gravely.

It was half past three and Victoria’s grey eyes widened as she looked through the windows of the large glass door which opened on to the balcony of her bedchamber.

The grey road had been swept by a cold winter’s wind. Very few pedestrians had ventured out on to the streets of London to face the chill of that winter’s afternoon. Few creaking carriages dug their way through the muddied road surfaces. The leaden sky was covered with large, swollen, ever-darkening clouds.

Just one half hour remained. At precisely four o’clock the doorbell of the great yet decaying house would fill the gloomy and almost entirely empty rooms with its sound. A dull sound which would signal the commencement of her life sentence.

Mr and Mrs Greenwood would take afternoon tea with Victoria and her parents and would introduce their only son, Edward. The marriage between Victoria and Edward, to take place two days later, had been established for some time by the two families, but the two young people had never even seen each other. For weeks it had been the talk of all the city. The wedding of Lady Victoria, daughter of Count Ashton and only descendent of that noble and historic family, and Edward Greenwood, only son of a successful middle-class family of cloth merchants. She had the name and the lineage, and he had the money. A perfect match, just as their respective parents had thought. A union that would prove advantageous to all parties. The Greenwoods would receive a prestigious title and the Ashtons would have the possibility to change the fate of their noble