The Smile of the Stranger

Strong, subversive heroine Juliana Paget is forced to flee from her Italian home during the French Revolution in the first of Joan Aiken's romantic regency adventures, The Smile of a Stranger. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton, Netflix's new romantic drama series inspired by the novels of Julia Quinn.
Escaping from the horrors of revolutionary France, seventeen year old Juliana embarks on a wild and dangerous journey, crossing the channel in a hot air balloon to the supposed safety of English soil. But what awaits her is far from harmless: an evil aunt, a dangerous prospective husband, and a threatening presence from her past . . .
Aiken's plucky but disarmingly innocent heroine must learn to tell truth from fiction in this gripping romantic adventure.