An Independent Woman
Release Date: December 4, 2025
Sophia Holloway describes herself as a ‘wordsmith’. She read Modern History at Oxford, and her factual book on the Royal Marines in the First World War, From Trench and Turret, was published in 2006. She takes her pen name from her great grandmother. She also writes the Bradecote & Catchpoll mediaeval murder mysteries under the pen name, Sarah Hawkswood. Her third Classic Regency novel, ‘Kingscastle’ was published in paperback and ebook by Allison & Busby in November 2021.
She is a member of the Historical Writers’ Association, the Historical Novel Society, and the Crime Writers’ Association and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.
MY REVIEW
Louisa Dembleby is less forlorn than a widow ought to be. In fact, she feels nothing but a sense of freedom now that her inconsiderate husband is gone at last, leaving her nothing but the bare minimum required by the law and a three-year-old-daughter that he despised. After receiving an additional bequest from a godparent, Louisa sets up her own household in Frome, near Bath, determined never to marry again.
Enter Major Barkby (about fifteen percent into the Kindle version of the book). With a limp and a hand multilated from a saber-stroke, Barkby is an object of revulsion to most, but Louisa finds him personable, kind, and sincere, The two strike up a friendship. When Barkby takes it upon himself to protect Lady Dembleby’s home from burglars, tongues begin to wag in the neighborhood. Louisa informs Barkby of her decision never to marry again, and he promises to stand her friend since she will not allow him to be more.
The rest of the book follows Louisa’s removal to Bath where, to make up for his late entrance into the story, Barkby performs every heroic deed that one could ever wish of a Regency hero (Provide emotional support during illness of lady’s daughter? Check. Put lady’s enemy in his place at a social setting? Check. Fight a duel to protect lady’s honor? Check.) His friend Mr. Gilmorton proves heroic as well, conducting a very satisfactory secondary romance with Louisa’s best friend Miss Brailes.
With a name like An Independent Woman, one worries whether the book will become too anachronistically modern in tone. The author handles Louisa’s jaded attitude towards marriage well, however, creating a realistic heroine within the bounds of Regency society who understands the very real legal downsides of Regency matrimony and yet wishes she could trust well enough to love. The writing style of the book is very traditional, with a slow start rather than an immediate “meet-cute” and a third person omniscient viewpoint that allows one to get to know many of the characters, rather than just the main couple. Major Barkby is a gem, through and through, and just gets better as the book goes on. The reader will find all the romance and charm of a Heyer novel in this new Holloway book. Recommended.
“I love you. I no more doubt it than I doubt the sun rises in the east. I will keep on loving you, for I have never met a woman like you in all my life. I would offer you my heart and soul and body, but I know that now you want none of them. Instead, I beg that you accept my friendship, and my promise that if there is any way in which I may serve you, at any time, tell me and I will strive to do it, at whatever the cost.”
-An Independent Woman by Sophia Holloway
Romance with Humor and Heart 
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