Duchess Material

As soon as I heard about Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan, I was intrigued. A historical romance with a healthy dose of mystery? Love it! And that it takes place in the 1890s is also appealing, partly because I’ve read so few books set in this decade. I loved seeing how different things were, especially for women, even just 15 or 20 years removed from most Victorian-era romances I’ve read.

Phoebe Atkinson has turned away from societal norms to become a schoolteacher for underprivileged girls. When her student Alice goes missing, Phoebe will do everything in her power to find her. This is how she and her childhood friend Will, now the Duke of Ellis, get back into each other’s lives. As he helps Phoebe following the clues to Alice, the two are remembering how well they get along… and exploring romantic feelings they never had a chance to act on before. But they live such different lives, and Phoebe wouldn’t exactly meet the usual expectations of a duchess. Once this mystery is solved, will Phoebe and Will have finally clued into their own possible future?

Tropes & Narrative Devices:

• Second chance romance
• (Former) friends to lovers
• Forced proximity
• Dual third-person POV (Phoebe and Will)

What I Liked:

• Romance by way of mystery. The whole setup for Phoebe and Will to get reunited is in solving the mystery of her missing student, Alice. Phoebe calls for Will from jail, and things quickly spiral into the two teaming up to follow the trail of clues. Investigating where Alice was last seen, meeting up with people she apparently knew, going undercover… Phoebe and Will get a lot of opportunity to work together and get reacquainted.
• The disguise scenes! I don’t want to spoil too much, but the scene where Phoebe dresses like a man in order to accompany Will on a little undercover investigation… hilarious! And then when they go to another place with masks… oh my!
• Politics, class divides, and what opportunities women have. Much of this book is dedicated to these themes. When Will inherited the dukedom, he felt that he had to abandon his more radical views to be like the conservative Duke he was replacing. But as he and Phoebe work on unraveling their mystery and discuss her work as a schoolteacher for working class girls, much of the the discussion specifically goes to how women in poverty get by. Is education a privilege or something that can help them? Is prostitution something that should be punished, or is there a more humane way to help those in such work? What are Phoebe and Will each doing to lift up those who most need it?
• A very Darcy-inspired proposal scene. If you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, Will’s attempt at a proposal will definitely remind you of what went wrong for Mr. Darcy!
• Setup for future books. Both of Phoebe’s sisters seem to have romances of their own coming up. Alex and a fake fiancé? Freddie and a possible love triangle? I can’t wait to read these! Also, the epilogue seems like a slight tie-in to the author’s upcoming book, A Death on Corfu, part of a different (but possibly interconnected?) series.

Final Thoughts

Duchess Material is an engrossing and thoughtful novel full of mystery and romance in equal measure. I loved getting to know these characters and watching them find their way back to each other (and finding Alice, too!). This is the start of a series, and I’m already looking forward to Alex and Freddie’s respective love stories. I’m also excited to read Emily Sullivan’s other upcoming series-starter, A Death on Corfu!

Special thanks to Forever and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Duchess Material here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

Duchess Material by Emily Sullivan
Series	(#1)
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Romance; Historical Mystery
Setting	England
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	November 19, 2024
Publisher	Forever

Official Summary

When her student goes missing, an independent bluestocking must seek the help of the arrogant duke who spurned her in this sizzling tale of romance and intrigue, perfect for fans of Netflix’s Bridgerton series

Phoebe Atkinson is what society might call unconventional. Instead of marrying well like other women born to wealth, she chose to be a schoolteacher. Not to mention she lives in a leaky flat in an unfashionable part of town rather than stay in her parents’ mansion. But when her most promising pupil goes missing she has only one option: beg her sister’s best friend, the powerful Duke of Ellis, for help. 

The last thing William Margrave ever expected was to inherit a dukedom. But now that he has it, he’s determined to act the part perfectly—and that includes marrying the perfect duchess. A bluestocking Bohemian schoolteacher is decidedly not duchess material. But he can’t resist her plea for help regarding her missing student. 

As they fall further into the mystery, William discovers that he never got over his childhood crush on Phoebe, and he doesn’t really want to.

A “rising historical romance star.” –Booklist, starred review