What a fresh, memorable story! I was a little disappointed at first to realize that the hero is not a starchy vicar with a calling but one by default -- as a viscount's son with an unfortunate army experience, there's no other respectable profession open to him. Then I decided it could be interesting to read about such a situation, which presumably happened fairly often. It was indeed.When Walter sees Artemisia Finch waiting to collect a member of his congregation, he feels both desire and a strange sense of recognition. In fact, he has seen her before -- when she was known just by her first name, as one of society's most sought after courtesans. Now she's home looking after her ailing father, and staying correctly away from condemning society. Being an unapologetically flawed human instead of a properly pious vicar, Walter feels no compunction about pursuing Artemisia -- and since she's passionate, lonely and has nothing to lose, she feels no compunction about pursuing him right back.This story doesn't go the way you'd expect, because it's not Artemisia's journey; the focus is on Walter's growth as his conscientious efforts to be a good vicar become more. Faced with such interesting issues as pre-marital sex, post-partum depression, and death with dignity (in appropriate Regency terminology, of course,) it turns out that his worldy attitude and experience may be more valuable than "the qualities he'd thought a good vicar should possess -- piety, religious conviction, and a strong sense of 'vocation'." Indeed, it seems that "people didn't need help negotiating the spiritual world; they needed help negotiating this one." As Walter's sympathy and live-and-let-live attitude help his parishioners, he begins to have a revolutionary thought: perhaps he can convince them to forgive and accept their resident outcast sinner, Artemisia.This is a really charming story of a leader finding his calling on the job. I found the romance a little bit less satisfying, because the two don't spend that much non-sexual time together and I missed seeing Walter makes the leap from "My responsibility to my parishioners is the most important thing" to "I would give up anything for you." but it's nicely mature, straightforward, and guilt-free. The happy ending may not seem plausible to all readers, but I thought Barbosa set it up well enough that I could believe it could happen.
