The Duke’s Secret (Sue Williams, A&U)

In The Duke’s Secret, the latest historical fiction by Sue Williams (The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress), journalist Ava Washington sets out to verify a family legend. According to the story, her great, great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Marshal, bore an illegitimate daughter fathered by the Duke of Wellington. Mary Ann had joined the Duke’s household as a maid in 1793, at a time when the French Revolution was rattling British nerves. Beyond the fragments preserved through Williams’s family lore, on which the novel is based, she draws on extensive historical research to reconstruct Mary Ann’s world, vividly portraying the harsh physical labour of domestic service and the vast social gulf between servants and their employers. The Duke is depicted as a womaniser and an absent, disinterested father, deeply conservative and committed to keeping the social status quo. This makes the novel’s suggestion of frequent conversations between him and Mary Ann somewhat unlikely. The military campaigns that propelled the Duke to fame are superbly rendered – particularly the strategy, chaos and carnage of the battles against Napoleon, culminating in Waterloo. Equally engaging are the modern-day chapters in which Ava uses DNA technology to trace any lingering connection between her family and the Iron Duke. Williams’s brilliant depiction of the social and political conditions of the times ensures The Duke’s Secret is an enthralling and compelling read that should appeal to fans of Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Katy Briggs is a marketer with a degree in English and history. She is an avid reader across myriad genres. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews