The release date for the English version of 'A Curious Beginning' by
Deanna Raybourn is Jul 2016. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
England, 1887. Veronica Speedwell is commemorating a personal achievement as the city gets ready to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Orphaned Veronica is free to continue her global travels in search of scientific knowledge—and the odd amorous dalliance—after burying her spinster aunt. With a sharpened hatpin and a butterfly net, Veronica is as adept at warding off suitors as she is at hunting butterflies. Now that she has severed her last link to England, she plans to go off on an adventure of a lifetime.
However, as Veronica learns when she foils her own kidnapping with the aid of a mysterious German nobleman connected to her shadowy past, destiny has other ideas. The baron provides her temporary protection in the care of his friend Stoker, a recluse natural historian who is as fascinating as he is ill-tempered, and swears to divulge to her everything he knows about the plan against her in good time. However, the baron is discovered dead before he can fulfil his enticing promise to divulge the secrets he has been keeping for decades. Veronica and Stoker find themselves on the run, cautious companions searching for the dark truth, as they are forced to flee from an elusive attacker.