Publisher's Synopsis
The Peacock Mirror is a cheeky Victorian era romp; a titillating cautionary tale of blackmail, bed-hopping, and social climbing which turns lover against lover and friend against friend. When young Julia Bourget catches her beloved Cyril - actor and object of her long-standing affection - backstage in a precarious position with a poorly-costumed Mercutio, she schemes to derail her parents' plans of an arranged marriage by ruining herself with an explicit portrait. Thus, Girl Beneath the Window is born. While posing for the artist, Sage Halliwell, Julia meets wicked Lady and Lord Brighton. As Sage becomes enamored with her sitter, Julia falls under the beguiling nature of Lord Brighton, who exposes her to others in their social sphere, namely Dr. Paul Campbell. Using a cosmetic trial for a new anti-aging face cream as bait, the doctor appeals to vanity to lure participants for his scientific sexual case studies. Lady Brighton wants to destroy Julia, Sage merely wants her, and Dr. Paul Campbell wants everyone's dirty little sexual secrets for his research. When a jealous Lady Brighton displays the risque portrait publicly to ruin her, Julia gets revenge by stealing Campbell's sexual case studies. She secretly sets out to write and publish a roman a clef in order to get back at those she believes have done her wrong. Because she and her husband, as well as Sage and a host of Londoners, have participated in the case study, Lady Brighton must retrieve the stolen files before Julia offers up a scandal on London society far worse than anything Mr. Wilde, himself, could ever provide.
