The Thief and the Noble

Lady Marian Russell should be the catch of the season. She’s young, beautiful, and has a substantial dowry. However, she’s been disillusioned with the gap between the rich and poor and is determined to right this imbalance. If only she knew how! When she stumbles across a thief who claims to steal from the rich to give to the poor, Marian is sure she’s found the answer. Robin knows Lady Marian is naïve and allowing her involvement exposes them both to danger, but a copycat has sprung up in London and he’ll need Marian’s help to catch the other thief. Between risky thefts and an ignoble rogue on the loose, Marian and Robin have plenty of trouble stirring with both reputations and hearts at stake.

A delightful retelling of the Robin Hood tale, “The Thief and the Noble” takes the lighter aspects of the original and gives them a dreamy lift. Staged in the Regency era, this tale is a light mix of “Robin Hood” with a little “Scarlet Pimpernel”, and as a result it has many of the tropes that delight fans of those books without much tie to this book’s time period. Despite the absence of some of the time period’s social constraints, and impulse rather than logic ruling many character decisions, the steady pace, foregone romance, and dramatic conclusion add up to a fun book to slip into after a busy day.  While not a complex or thought provoking read, “The Thief and the Noble” takes some of the most entertaining aspects of the classic tale and adds some Regency glitz and makes readers wonder why there aren’t more retellings of this classic.

Sarah E Bradley