Novel set in fictional Pirriwee, Northern Beaches, SYDNEY
Romance novel set mainly in LONDON
13th August 2026
Most Ardently Yours by Freya Sampson, romance novel mainly set in London.
I have read The Girl on the 88 Bus by Freya Sampson and really enjoyed it. It was a light and engaging story and really wound its way around London.
This novel opens as Zoe Knight is forced to take shelter in a downpour in Baskerville Books, located on Cecil Court, the little snickleway between St Martin’s Lane and Charing Cross Road in the heart of London. Nick doesn’t so much greet her as scowl at her intrusion into his space. Yet he is a bookseller and they are always so friendly and welcoming, aren’t they? And then she discovers that the shop specialises in books for male readers (apparently called dick lit) and he can’t wait to see her go. She, in her bright and inimitable way, quizzes him on his shelves devoted to romance authors, but he soon closes down that conversation. Her beady eye travels across the shelves and spots a copy of Pride and Prejudice, which she filches from this unappreciative moron.
Back at work at Cake Expectations (London’s premier literary-themed cafe where you could be tempted by Sherlock Scones or a Lord of the Ring donut) she finds a man who is struggling with everyday concepts, dressed in curious clothes. Perhaps someone going to a fancy-dress party, or someone with mental health issues, perhaps a drug user… but it soon becomes clear that he really does seems to have dropped in from the early 19th Century.
You can imagine how much fun an author can have with a character who is utterly unfamiliar with a modern day setting! He says his name is Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy recently of Netherfield Park, which most readers will know as a character from Pride and Prejudice, the very book Zoe removed from Baskerville Books. Is there some spooky connection, has he somehow been “summoned” from the novel?
It is certainly a novel premise, with cute and funny observations, coupled with interesting dialogue and dynamics. The story sometimes perhaps felt a little contrived but overall it’s entertaining and well-written. And to be honest, romance fiction has been battered over recent years by mainstream press, so this novel feels like a strong nod to counter all the surly people who dismiss the genre out of hand.
A really fun, ‘time-slip’ read.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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