Landslide Risk Assessment

Nora Hague's debut is an irresistible combination of love story in true Romeo and Juliet style, and a gloriously panoramic account of life in 19th century America. Arabella Leeds, the teenage daughter of a respectable New York family is destined to fall in love with Aubrey Paxton, the cosseted servant of a family of slaveowners in New Orleans. he is 'high yellow' that is, has such a small proportion of African blood in his veins that he looks virtually white. This massive novel crosses the globe as the lovers leave America under their own separate clouds. Arabella's exposure of a decadent roue and her supposed involvement in the occult bring her into disrepute; Aubrey meanwhile is caught up in murder and betrayal, and the loss of his first love. They both head for England - Arabella with her family and Aubrey as a ship's help, battling alternately with seasickness and the unwonted attentions of his room mate. Their meeting is inevitable as the multi-layered strands of the novel slowly bind together to bring them closer, experiencing passion and drama at every stage of their journey. Their affair, however, attacks the conventions of the time - Arabella's passion for a 'Negro' causes such outrage that her family take the ultimate sanctions against her, with horrifying consequences. Arabella is a gloriously realised heroine: she is a modern woman trapped by 19th century properties, but instead of submitting meekly, she fights for her independence with every fibre of her being. We are granted access to her most private thoughts as she confides her joys and her frustrations to her journal. Aubrey too lets us get inside his skin as we follow his experiences through the imaginary letters he writes to his beloved grandmother. Letters from an Age of Reason is both a heartbreaking account of slavery as well as an intimate love story. (Kirkus UK)