By far my favorite of the series!! I loved this marriage of convenience premise, where our female main character is desperate to escape her abusive parents (and a terrible match to a man nearly four times her age) and is, thankfully, rescued by her reclusive but wildly wealthy neighbor. Oliver is largely reclusive because his attempts at entering society as a young adult were traumatizing and isolating. Having lost his hearing to Scarlet Fever in childhood, Oliver has settled into a comfortable - if lonely- life in a society where Deaf folks are routinely deemed mentally incompetent, socially and legally, and where few people have the skill or, frankly, interest, to communicate with him. I appreciated learning more about Deaf culture, hearing aid technology, sign language adoption and more during the Gilded Age, and loved that by the time we meet Oliver, he's well adjusted to his disability, and ready to tentatively (grudgingly) test new friendships and partnerships again. Our female main character, Christina, has perhaps the longer arc in this story, as she has to rediscover her own passions, confidence and self-image while she's only recently cast off her family, and I was so grateful she had the opportunity to find herself within the safe and secure attachment Oliver provides. Be warned, the third act is stressy and the deeply ableist violence of the era (and bureaucratic systems broadly) is on full display.