Parlous Times

Forty thousand pounds and a packet of compromising papers set a diplomatic bargain in motion during a wedding celebration at a tropical hacienda. Colonel Darcy is approached with a scheme to transport gold from England so that officials can be paid to obstruct a treaty. Commercial interests, private secrets, and public decisions are already tangled together in the opening of David Dwight Wells's novel.

The social scenes give that intrigue a comic counterpart. Secretary Stanley navigates Lady Port Arthur's plans for her daughter Isabelle, talk of engagements, and the awkward attentions surrounding Miss Fitzgerald. Polite compliments and careful wording become tools for managing expectations at a house gathering. The novel brings political bargaining into contact with courtship and family ambition, making it a choice for readers who enjoy dialogue, social manoeuvring, and characters whose public manners conceal competing private purposes.