The year is 1671 and England is slowly recovering from the horrors of the English Civil War. King Charles II lives lavishly with his many mistresses, including the famous beauty Nell Gwyn. On the other side of London, Nell’s eldest sister Rose Gwyn is caught in the middle of a high-profile robbery that could cost her her life. In the present day, Jess Yates, a librarian and history lover, is dealing with her family’s struggles. When Jess enters Fortune Hall to help her sister Tavy, with a project, Jess begins to follow the clues to discover the connection between the great house and the Gwyn sisters. What secrets does this great hall hold and can the reputation of the Gwyn family be saved in time? The mystery of the past and the present collide in Nicola Cornick’s latest novel, “The Other Gwyn Girl.”

I would like to thank Boldwood Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this novel. I have read two other novels by Cornick, “The Forgotten Sister” and “The Last Daughter of York,” and I thoroughly enjoyed both dual-timeline novels. When I heard about this novel, it was a compelling premise to me as I know very little about Nell and Rose Gwyn.

Nell and Rose Gwyn were the daughters of Captain Thomas Gwyn and Helena Smith Gwyn. When their father died, Helena had to raise her daughters to survive the cruel world, but we soon find out that Helena’s favorite is her youngest daughter Nell. The sisters may have started as simple orange sellers, but Nell’s star was on the rise as she became an actress and then the favorite mistress of King Charles II. Rose was less fortunate as she married John Cassells and now finds herself in prison for a third time, this time for the theft of the Crown Jewels, a scheme orchestrated by Colonel Thomas Blood. Now, Rose must team up with the officer who arrested her, Guy Forster, to clear her name and save her sister Nell’s reputation by finding the Crown Jewels before it is too late.

The lives of the Yates sisters mirror that of the Gwyn sisters. Jess is down on her luck after her ex-boyfriend ends up in prison and the whole scandal is splashed on every newspaper and tabloid due to her sister’s fame. Jess thinks that she is going to Fortune Hall for a reunion of sorts with her mother and sister, but that is not the case at all. Tavy, the younger sister, is a style influencer/ TV star who needs her nerdy older sister’s help with a project. Tavy has agreed to renovate Fortune Hall because of its alleged connections to Nell Gwyn and she has asked her sister Jess for help. As Jess hunts down clues to the history of Fortune Hall, alongside Ethan Sterling whose family has a connection to the home, she discovers shocking truths about the Gwyn sisters.

This novel was such a wild ride from the start and I could not put it down. The English Civil War is not usually an area of study for me, but there was just something about the way Cornick wrote this novel that I want to learn more about Nell and Rose Gwyn as well as King Charles II and his many mistresses. If you are a fan of dual-timeline novels or Nell Gwyn, you must check out, “The Other Gwyn Girl” by Nicola Cornick.