In our era of virulent hatred between the sexes, it’s delightful to read a romantic comedy that reaffirms timeless themes of love, loss, hope, and forgiveness, delivered in a charming story that could happen in any historical era—but is set in modern Bristol, England. Headlining the fun is Perdita Riley, a shy, socially awkward but attractive 28-year-old, fresh out of a London college after growing up in an Irish Catholic orphanage.Deep in student loan debt, without savings, and with no family to help her, Perdita’s landed her first job as an investment counselor. She lives with a couple of gay men, Luke and Gavin, who’ve informally adopted her as a sister and play a protective role throughout the novel. Trouble descends when one of Perdita’s investment clients, Violet, an elderly widow, convinces Perdita to make a risky offshore investment for her. The market crashes; Violet loses her life’s savings and has a debilitating stroke. Then Perdita is sacked from the investment firm.Enter Violet’s brusque, hard-driving single nephew Saul, a 35-year-old businessman who half drags Perdita from a department store, forces her into his car, drives her to Violet’s house, and demands that Perdita move in as an unpaid housekeeper to recompense Violet’s financial loss. Meanwhile, having taken Violet’s advice before her stroke robbed her of the power of speech, Perdita has spruced up her wardrobe to attract the attention of Tony, a suave womanizer and motivational speaker who seduces and beds her at a sales convention. Tony is horrified to discover is that Perdita was a virgin. He ditches her for another woman, and she discovers she’s pregnant. What follows is a comedy of manners fans of British fiction and films will be familiar with. The story could seem a bit dated to urban slicksters, but readers who grew up in a small town—as I did in the Southern U.S.—will feel right at home.Against her better judgment, Perdita finds herself attracted to Saul, and he, despite his hostile attitude toward her, begins to feel the call of her delicate femininity. Violet is revealed as a woman with romantic cunning, who’s wanted to see Saul and Perdita become an item all along. After many misunderstandings and false starts, Saul eventually falls for and seduces Perdita; but by this point, her germination—as she calls her pregnancy—is several months along. She agonizes over when to tell Saul the truth, fearing she’ll lose him. Then Tony learns about her pregnancy and barrels back into her life, threatening to destroy everything she’s carefully built in her new home with Saul and Violet. Without giving away the ending, suffice it to say that things get very ugly and complicated, especially after Perdita’s daughter Petal is born out of wedlock. But readers who stick things out to the end will get a very enjoyable read.