Her Heart for a Compass

Her Heart for a Compass is a 2021 romance novel by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. The novel is a semi-fictional story about the Duchess's great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.

Plot
Margaret's hair is frequently featured, it's variously a "rebellious red mop", a "sodden mass of rebellious curls", a "scarlet flag, wild curls whipping around her face", and "burnished autumn leaves".

Drawing on many parallels from the authors life for the historical tale, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott was pictured in a Victorian-style floor-length outfit, complete with high-necked blouse, jacket and gloves, sitting on a stone bench gazing at a compass she held out in front of her, the Lady – although her family, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, were close friends with the Queen and the Prince Consort, the Duke's ex-wife and the Queen's former in-law – struggled to come to terms with the rigorous disciplines of royal life after marrying, and that their second daughter, Margaret, was a redhead with a birthday "within a few days" of her own.

The real details of Margaret's own life are scant; described in gossip rags as a "Titian-haired breath of fresh Scotch air", was "15 years in the making". Beginning when she discovered romance, her heroine's 'rebellious' red hair is much more of a feature, that depicts her as a woman who is initially the toast of London in the Duchess' historical novel, than sex. The Fleet Street papers initially loved her raunchy edge but eventually decided it was more vulgar than charming. "It was always that I was portrayed as the sinner," she says.

When one act of rebellion costs Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott her place in society, her life is swept onto a new course. One that will test her courage and resilience.

The Lady, who has previously written her roman à clef memoirs, holding passion for historical strong women. While initially submitting to the strictures of high society and the tribulations of the marriage market, she endures a pasting from the press before emerging triumphant, throwing off the weight of expectations to become her true self. Proud to bring her personal brand to the world, sweeps the reader from the drawing rooms of Victoria's court and the grand country houses of Scotland and Ireland, where she was cast out from the royals amid her scandal, and fell deeply into debt to the slums of London, and then the mercantile bustle of 1870s New York.

Margaret embarks on a journey of self-discovery where she will meet like-minded, and equally spirited, companions who shape her world.

It follows the Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott, "who desires to break the mould, follow her internal compass – her heart – and discover her raison d'être – falling in love along the way". She is a spirited, Titian-haired, freckled beauty, whose curls just won't quit. But as she navigates the challenges of forging her own path in life, will she find the greatest courage of all, to follow her heart against all odds…?

The novel veers around somewhat in tone, from archaic – Margaret's priest informs her that "you cannot have imagined I would have kissed you in such a manner unless my intentions were honourable" and one admirer opines: "She was very naive but, by heavens, she had real spirit, too, no one could doubt that."

Well-researched, and a glimpse into the strictures of life as a pampered, rich, upper-class woman. It wears its research lightly, with intriguing forays into topics such as Victorian bathing dresses, and the Queen's predilection to "pour her tea from one cup to another until it was adequately cooled". Margaret realising that she doesn't need to "conform to the rules set down by society", that a Buccleuch woman doesn't need a strategic marriage, and that her despairing cry, "no one seems to care that underneath I'm an actual person", isn't altogether true.

Characters

 * Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott
 * Donald Cameron of Lochiel
 * Rufus Ponsonby, Earl of Killin
 * Sebastian Beckwith
 * Princess Louise
 * Julia Wingfield, Viscountess Powerscourt
 * Mervyn Wingfield, Viscount Powerscourt
 * Walter, Duke of Buccleuch
 * Charlotte, Duchess of Buccleuch
 * Queen Victoria
 * Aunt Marion
 * Patrick Valentine
 * Mrs William Astor
 * Fraser Scott
 * Susannah Elmhirst

Production
The publishing rights were acquired by Mills & Boon. The book is published by William Morrow and Company in the United States. Ferguson worked with Scottish romance author Marguerite Kaye on the novel.

Reception
The novel placed 10th in the United Kingdom's hardback fiction bestsellers chart, after selling 1,079 copies in the week ending 14 August 2021. In the novel's first week it sold 1,241 hardback copies.

Critical reception of the novel was generally mixed. The review aggregator website Book Marks collected 5 reviews on the book, 2 of which were classified as "rave", 1 was classified as "positive", 1 as "mixed", and 1 as "pan". The Times Sarah Ditum called the novel a "thinly veiled wish fulfilment fantasy" that "is more slog than seduction" and rated it two out of five stars. The Daily Telegraph Hannah Betts described the novel as "underwhelming" and also rated it two out of five stars. The Guardian Alison Flood praised the work as "chaste good fun". The Independent Roisin O'Connor rated the novel three out of five stars. The Evening Standard Melanie McDonagh recalled the novel as "amiable tosh" and "a perfect example of the genre".