Mr. Malcolm's List

Mr. Malcolm's List

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
One of BuzzFeed‘s Romance Novels to Read Summer 2020

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an arrogant bachelor insistent on a wife who meets the strictest of requirements—deserves his comeuppance.

The Honourable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm is searching for a wife, but not just any wife. As the target of matchmaking mothers and desperate debutantes, he’s determined to avoid the fortune hunters and find a near-perfect woman, one who will meet the qualifications on his well-crafted list. But after years of searching, he’s beginning to despair of ever finding this paragon. Until Selina Dalton arrives in town.

Selina, a vicar’s daughter of limited means and a stranger to high society, is thrilled when her friend Julia Thistlewaite invites her to London, until she learns it’s all part of a plot to exact revenge on Mr. Malcolm. Selina is reluctant to participate in Julia’s scheme, especially after meeting the irresistible Mr. Malcolm, who appears to be very different from the arrogant scoundrel of Julia’s description.

But when Mr. Malcolm begins judging Selina against his unattainable standards, Selina decides that she has some qualifications of her own. And if he is to meet them he must reveal the real man behind…Mr. Malcolm’s List.

“This witty Austen-esque romp…is a sparkling twist on the Regency-era ballroom scenes and misunderstandings that litter historical romance…. Allain’s writing is wry and delightful, borrowing skillfully from Austen’s distinctive use of free indirect speech. The book is bursting with witty asides and droll commentary, a tongue-in-cheek discourse designed to have us both laughing with and at the cast of characters. Allain nails the style she’s paying tribute to and the novel is an imminently readable diversion…. It’s an amuse-bouche of a story that delights and tantalizes.”
—Entertainment Weekly

Paperback

Pages: 256 pages