This smarter-than-average romance novel offers a piquant twist on the standard boy-meets-girl formula, perhaps because author Mary Cholmondeley had resigned herself to the fate of old maid by the age of eighteen, believing that she had neither the looks nor the charm to ensnare a husband. Although Notwithstanding offers all of the pleasures of an Austen novel, keen-eyed readers who read between the lines will detect a bit of healthy skepticism about the social institutions and mores its protagonists embrace.