Into Temptation (2005)

Like the first two volumes in Penny Vincenzi's addicting trilogy about the Lytton family, owners of a venerable London publishing house, Into Temptation is gloriously overwritten, meticulously researched, and utterly dramatic — in other words, pretty hard to put down. The book opens in 1953; the war has buffeted the family and its fortunes, with the Lyttons' generations-old book company facing bankruptcy. The family savior, when she arrives, comes from a most unusual place. If you ever watched Upstairs, Downstairs, or simply like dish and details about the British upper class, this is your novel.