In eighteenth century England, sixteen-year-old Susan Kirke defies her parents and gives up a life of privilege to marry the man she loves.Susan falls in love with the gardener on her father's estate. John Dean, her Mr. Right is wrong in every way: wrong nationality, a Scot; wrong religion, a Presbyterian; and worst of all, wrong class. When her parents learn of her engagement, they dismiss Dean and arrange a marriage for Susan with her cousin Herbert Fitzwilliam.In preparation for the wedding, the family goes to London, where Susan and Fitzwilliam attend a masquerade at Vauxhall Gardens; she dressed as a boy and he as a woman. While he is surrounded by a coterie of admirers, she escapes to the streets of London to find the man she loves.Dean elopes with Susan to his hometown of Dundee.In Edinburgh, they stop to buy a gown for Susan, and Dean goes to Leith to book passage on a ship. There he is captured by a press gang, and Susan must find the courage to rescue him. Edeana Malcolm has published 6 short stories, two of which have won awards. Her historical fiction novel, A Garden in the Wilderness, is available through Borealis Press in Ottawa

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