By Any Other Name — H.W. Coyle

A brother and sister, unlike each other in every way possible except for a propensity for adventure and natures at odds with their birth are caught up in the heady early days of the French Revolution before the cry of ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité' became an insatiable howl for blood.

The Honourable Bertram Rushmoor and his sister Lady Georgette are more then mere spectators to the events following the fall of the Bastille. Bertram, following in his father's footsteps, is dispatched to Paris as an unofficial agent of His Majesty's Foreign Office. His mission? To mingle with the new power brokers there and discover what, exactly they hope to achieve and how their efforts will effect His Majesty's government. The manner in which he does so is as unusual as his charter, for he often dons the guise of Belle, the flighty daughter of an English noble.

The opportunity to travel to Paris is a godsend for Georgette. Her insatiable desire for freedom and a dislike of the English class system drives her to don a mask as unconventional as her brother's. As George, a dashing rake who fears no man she is able to enjoy life on her terms. Yet this freedom comes at a price, for it places her outside the bounds of her society, one that consigns a woman such as her to life in a gilded cage. Georgette dreads the thought of marriage to a man selected for her based solely on his title and position, a man who would deny her the freedom to express herself as she sees fit. For her the ideal mate would be one who is able to measure up to her demanding standards whilst giving her the freedom to be herself.

Both find an unlikely ally in Paris in the form of Edward Primrose, an American who earned a reputation and a fortune as a privateer during America's war for independence. For Bertram, Edward's friendship with Anton Langeur, an outspoken leader in the newly formed National Assembly provides him with a means of mingling freely and unobtrusively with men such as Abbé Sieyès, Comte de Mirabeau, Georges Danton and a provincial upstart named Maximilien Robespierre.

For Georgette, Edward presents her with both an opportunity and a challenge, for despite her unusual habits and feigned disinterest he pursues her with a tenacity that is as endearing as it is frightening for a young woman who has reservations about giving herself over to another.

Events around them draw this unlikely trio into the adventure of their lives, one that pits bother and sister against each other and their own convictions.

The inspiration for this story comes from Joel Richard Paul's book ‘Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution' which includes accounts of the real life adventures of the Chevalier d'Éon, a spy and diplomat for the French King who carried out his duties as both a male and a female as well as the stories of Georgette Heyer whose romantic farces such as ‘The Corinthian,' ‘The Masqueraders' and ‘These Old Shades' all centered on characters who find it necessary to take on the guise of the opposite gender.