Hathaways (novel series)

Hathaways
First edition covers of the books
  • Mine Till Midnight (2007)
  • Seduce Me at Sunrise (2008)
  • Tempt Me at Twilight (2009)
  • Married By Morning (2010)
  • Love in the Afternoon (2010)
AuthorLisa Kleypas
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical romance, historical fiction
PublisherMacmillan Publishers
Published
  • 2007–2010
Media typeDigital, print, audio
No. of books5 (with one short story)

Hathaways is a series of five fictional historical romance novels written by Lisa Kleypas. Released from 2007 to 2010, it revolves around the orphaned Hathaway siblings who suddenly inherit a peerage and a property in Hampshire.[1][2][3]

Background and characters

Set in Victorian England,[4] each novel in the series highlights one of the five orphaned Hathaway siblings – Leo, Amelia, Winifred "Win", Poppy, and Beatrix – who suddenly rise from the middle class to the ranks of nobility when a distant relative dies and leaves them a viscountcy and estate in Hampshire.[1][5] Born in a family of scholars, all of them grew up discussing politics, world history, literature, and scientific advancement with their father,[5] and are considered socially unconventional due to their lack of adherence to the laws of etiquette.[6]

Amelia is the eldest of the Hathaways, a practical and self-imposed spinster who devotes herself to her siblings after a failed engagement.[7] In Mine Till Midnight she meets Cam Rohan, a character that had already appeared in Kleypas's 2006 novel Devil in Winter from the Wallflowers series.[8] Cam is the factotum of Jenner's, a gentlemen's gambling club, and was born to a Roma mother and an Irish father, hence he is isolated by both communities because of his mixed background.[9] Afraid of losing contacts with his ethnic and cultural roots, he plans to abandon his considerable wealth and London lifestyle to join a group of traveling Romanies before meeting Amelia and joining her family.[9][10]

Win was left as a fragile invalid after surviving scarlet fever a few years earlier and usually never does anything alone. For a long time she has been in love with Kev Merripen, whom her parents saved and welcomed into their house when he was a boy; her feelings are reciprocated, but Kev thinks he is unworthy of her because of his mysterious past and Romani origin.[11] Contrary to Cam, who is later revealed to be his brother, Merripen is reticent to show and explain the Romani culture to others;[12] he follows a Protestant work ethic, has a capitalist mentality, and ultimately integrates into the white world when he assumes the title of Lord Cavan from his grandfather.[13] Win and Kev's story is told in Seduce Me at Sunrise.[1]

Poppy is a young woman of beauty and wit,[1] warm, talkative, and with a nerd side.[14] In Tempt Me at Twilight she attracts the attention of Harry Rutledge, an isolated mechanical engineer from America who secretly prevents her engagement and manages to win her over.[1][14] Harry is also the owner of the luxurious Rutledge Hotel, which Kleypas created by combining historical London hotels such as Brown's and Mivart's,[14] and where many characters from her previous books have stayed.[15] Harry's physical appearance is inspired by actor Richard Armitage.[16]

Leo, Lord Ramsay, is a talented architect with a smart, cynical, and funny personality, but after witnessing the death of his fiancée he gave in to depression and a dissolute lifestyle, indulging in drinking, gambling, and prostitutes to extreme levels for a while before managing to reform himself.[10][17][18] Over constant bickering and skirmishes, he falls for Catherine Marks, his sisters' lady-in-waiting of three years,[1] who hides a past in which her aunt tried to sell her into prostitution.[19] Their story is told in Married By Morning, where Leo must find a wife and produce an heir within a year so as not to lose the family estate.[17]

Beatrix is the youngest of the siblings and the one who most detests social norms, preferring the company of animals to that of people, which she takes care of in the family home before releasing them back into the wild or keeping them as pets.[20] In Love in the Afternoon she begins replying to the letters sent by Captain Christopher Phelan, who's fighting in the Crimean War, to his prospective fiancée, Beatrix's friend Prudence, and she falls in love with him over their correspondence even though she writes to him pretending to be Prudence.[1][20] Their story has a Beauty and the Beast theme.[14]

Besides Cam, a few other characters from the Wallflowers series (2004–2008) appear in the Hathaways, and the siblings live near Stony Cross, Lord Westcliff's manor from It Happened One Autumn.[10]

Publishing history

  1. Mine Till Midnight (2007, Amelia's story)
  2. Seduce Me at Sunrise (2008, Win's story)
  3. Tempt Me at Twilight (2009, Poppy's story)
  4. Married By Morning (2010, Leo's story)
  5. Love in the Afternoon (2010, Beatrix's story)

A free short story, A Hathaway Wedding, was made available in 2009 by signing up to Macmillan's mailing list.[21] Chronologically, it takes place immediately after Seduce Me at Sunrise, of which it constitutes the epilogue.[22]

Reception

Publishers Weekly described Mine Till Midnight as "another sexy exploration of 19th-century passion and peccadilloes, riveting from start to finish" and found that "the author's sensitivity to the prejudice endured by the Roma (Gypsies) adds a measure of grim reality that is creatively offset by Rohan's discussion of Roma beliefs and superstitions".[4] USA Today wrote about Married by Morning that "this escapist delight features clever banter, sexual tension, a zesty pace and the unraveling of various mysteries, including why people fall in love".[23] Love in the Afternoon was chosen by the Romantic Times as one of the 30 best regency romance novels of all time.[24]

In 2009, Seduce Me at Sunrise sold 575,000 paperback copies in the United States,[25] while Tempt Me at Twilight sold 515,000 hardcover copies.[26]

Adaptation

All five novels in the series have been adapted into manga between 2011 and 2017. Reiko Kishida illustrated Mine Till Midnight, Akino Nanami Seduce Me at Sunrise, Jun Hasegawa Tempt Me at Twilight, Chiho Saito Married by Morning, and Hibiki Sakuraya Love in the Afternoon.[27][28][29]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "La serie romance al femminile per l'estate è Hathaways" [The female-driven romance series for the summer is Hathaways]. Oscar Mondadori (in Italian). 4 July 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
  2. ↑ "Hathaways - A series by Lisa Kleypas". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  3. ↑ "The Hathaways Complete Series". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved 8 May 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 8 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 Rosales 2018, p. 80.
  6. ↑ Pérez-Casal 2020, p. 150.
  7. ↑ Rosales 2018, p. 81.
  8. ↑ Pérez-Casal 2020, p. 148.
  9. 1 2 Pérez-Casal 2020, p. 149.
  10. 1 2 3 Granville, Jane. "Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas". All About Romance. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  11. ↑ Rosales 2018, p. 84.
  12. ↑ Pérez-Casal 2020, p. 151.
  13. ↑ Pérez-Casal 2020, pp. 151–152.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Time for Temptation: Q&A with Lisa Kleypas". The Good, The Bad and The Unread. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  15. ↑ "Lisa Kleypas Week - Interview and Giveaway". The Book Smugglers. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "Interview with Lisa Kleypas". Goodreads. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  17. 1 2 Granville, Jane. "Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas". All About Romance. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  18. ↑ "On authors' keeper shelves: Lisa Kleypas, Susan Donovan and Dee Henderson". USA Today. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  19. ↑ Rosales 2018, p. 92.
  20. 1 2 Rosales 2018, p. 87–88.
  21. ↑ "Tempt Me at Twilight". Macmillan Publishers. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  22. ↑ Kleypas, Lisa (2 November 2013). Un matrimonio degli Hathaway [A Hathaway Wedding] (in Italian). Translated by Marin, Piera. Mondadori. p. 2. ISBN 9788852044809.
  23. ↑ "Book roundup: Chance at romance". USA Today. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  24. ↑ Lao, Lisette (14 March 2023). "30 Best Regency Romance Novels of All Time". Romantic Times. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
  25. ↑ McEvoy, Dermot (23 May 2009). "Bestselling Paperback Books 2009". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  26. ↑ "Facts & Figures 2009 Revised". Publishers Weekly. 4 May 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
  27. ↑ Kleypas, Lisa (2011). 夜色の愛につつまれて [Wrapped in Night-Colored Love] (in Japanese). Illustrated by Reiko Kishida. Emerald Comics. ISBN 9784776730309.
  28. ↑ "令嬢とロマの青年の切ないロマンスを描く「夜明けの色を紡いで」発売" ["Weaving the Colors of Dawn," a poignant romance between a noblewoman and a Roma young man, is now on sale]. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). 21 October 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
  29. ↑ "さいとうちほ・長谷川潤・桜屋響が変わり者兄妹の恋物語を紡ぐ、3冊同発" [Chiho Saito, Jun Hasegawa, and Hibiki Sakuraya weave a love story about an eccentric brother and sisters in three books released simultaneously]. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). 1 November 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2026.

Sources

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.