The Aristocrat

The Aristocrat is a standalone novel from Penelope Ward about a woman who encounters Leo, a charming British aristocrat renting a house across the bay in her seaside town for the summer. After spotting him through binoculars, she meets him and his housemate, and quickly forms a connection with Leo despite their apparent differences. Over the course of several months, they fall in love. However, both face obstacles to their relationship. Leo has obligations and a life back home that the narrator feels she could never fit into, and she is preparing to attend law school. They decide to end their relationship, believing their story is finished. Five years later, Leo sends the narrator a letter that fundamentally changes everything she thought she knew about their past.