Nan Smithen wants so much more from her life than being a lady’s maid. Fearless and ambitious, Nan carves out a new life for herself by marrying a wealthy businessman. Gaining status, wealth, and children, Nan seems to have everything she could have wanted.

But when her adoring husband dies in revolutionary France, Nan finds herself right where she started: penniless and downtrodden. Rather than mourn the life she had, Nan Smithen vows to make her own fortune. Beginning with a simple newswalk in Mayfair, Nan starts to build a business empire that will spread far beyond the confines of London.

And when the dashing, but dastardly, Calverly Leigh saunters into her life, Nan must protect both her newfound fortune and her heart.

Tuppenny Times was first published in 1988 and is the first book of the Easter Empire trilogy.