The Worst Duke is not deep. It didn’t change my world. However, it does have a pig, a pug, a cat, and a lot of discussion about the many uses of vinegar so color me satisfied. If you like historical romances that are low angst, and made of silly, feel-good fun, you may like this.

Anthony Farr, Duke of Radcliffe, had a terrible marriage. His wife died many years ago and his sister, Margaret, wants him to remarry and have more children, thus providing the spare to the heir, as they say. Margaret lives with Anthony and is eager for him to maintain a ducal aspect, but Anthony is a loving and hands-on father who despises etiquette and fashion and who is devoted to agriculture and raising his pet pig, Duchess, for competition. He values sensible shoes and books about agriculture. He has vowed never to remarry, since the first marriage was so horrible. He is, according to Margaret, “The worst duke in the world,” due to his carelessness about appearances and his refusal to remarry.

Meanwhile, the neighboring Penhallow family discovers that Miss Jane Kent is a long-lost relative (their deceased son’s illegitimate daughter). They take her in with open arms and introduce her to other families. She soon meets Wakefield, Anthony’s eight-year-old son, as well as Duchess (the pig) and Anthony’s dogs, one of which is a pug named Snuffles. Jane and Anthony share both friendship and attraction – but with Anthony vowing never to remarry and Margaret thinking Jane is beneath him socially and Jane’s relations being not very fond of Margaret, the romance may be doomed.

Here is what this book contains:

• Humor
• Affection
• Mutual respect
• Animals
• A consistently amusing child
• Consent (with regard to kissing and general making out)
• Good food
• Pretty dresses
• A decent amount of end-of-book groveling
• Discussions about the wives of Henry VIII
• Happy endings all around

Here is what it does not contain:

• Sex (other than passionate making out)
• Large amounts of conflict
• Dizzying passion
• Overwhelming Angst (Anthony has some but it’s nothing a good dose of vinegar and common sense can’t cure)

This book is full of likeable characters with the exception of Margaret who is terrible (and who, in my opinion, was therefore the most interesting character in the book). Jane is warm, friendly, resilient, unashamedly interested in sex, and down to earth. Anthony is friendly, often emotionally mercurial, funny, unashamedly interested in sex, and down to earth. This is a romance about mostly genuinely kind people as opposed to passive-aggressively nice people. This is also a story about low emotional stakes: the various crises I expected to occur did not, in fact, occur. Everything is lovely and fine.

My biggest gripes were with Anthony. What the hell is he doing kissing Jane if he has no intentions of marrying her? I set realism aside somewhere on page one when reading historicals but making out with a woman you have no intention to marry without discussing this fact with her seems deeply unkind. Additionally, Anthony is so terrified of re-marrying that any time he gets too emotionally close to Jane he retreats into an icy, aloof demeanor. Jane and I both found this to be confusing and gaslighting.

It’s also stupid – why on earth would the man believe that all marriages are the same despite being able to observe a variety of different kinds of marriages? As Wakefield points out, and Anthony, to his considerable credit, later agrees, “What’s the point of reading a story if the hero is stupid?”

On the other hand I was thrilled that Jane, who is nothing if not sensible,

At other times, I might find this book bland. However, this was exactly the type of story I needed for the week before a Covid Christmas. The animals, the running joke about Wakefield’s malapropisms, the food and the dresses all sparked copious levels of joy. I needed warmth, humor, and kindness, and this book provided it. Even Margaret, to my glee:

I cannot recommend this to people who like passion, angst, drama, and excitement in their novels, but if you want a good comfort read, and you, like me, think of historical romance as a form of fantasy, then this book will delight you. I love an exciting and angsty read as much as anyone but my stress was so high this December that a book, however flawed, in which people flirt whilst feeding leftover blancmange to a pig was all I could have desired.  If you weigh what the book contains against what it doesn’t contain, and you find you are in favor of romances with pigs and discussion of Henry VIII’s wives, then you will love this book as a cosy read about decent people and adorable animals. I found this to be a lovely cosy read for a stressful season.