In The Marriage Portrait, How Does Maggie O Farrell Use Historical Detail?

When poor dressmaker Leah Parker delivers a wedding gown to the powerful Grant family, she expects payment, not a trap. But the real bride, Olivia Grant, has vanished on her wedding day, and the Grants need someone to protect their billion-dollar alliance with cold CEO Daniel Cole. Forced to wear Olivia’s dress and marry in her name, Leah enters a dangerous contract marriage built on fear, lies, and hidden identity. Daniel has never met Olivia, but he quickly senses that his new wife is not the spoiled heiress he expected. She is too quiet, too kind, and too terrified of the family that claims to love her. As suspicion turns into protection, Daniel begins to uncover the mystery behind Olivia’s disappearance—and the truth that Leah was never chosen by accident. In a marriage that began as a mistake, Leah may become the only woman Daniel refuses to lose.

Mistaken for another, Elara is thrust into a marriage she never wanted—but Adrian Blackwood, her commanding and mysterious husband, refuses to let her go. As scandal, secrets, and betrayal swirl around them, a forbidden attraction ignites. One mistake, one marriage… and the love neither expected becomes unstoppable.

He married her to bury a crime. She married him to burn it all down. Trained to seduce and destroy, she enters the marriage as a weapon. But in their snowbound mountain estate, secrets ignite-and lust turns dangerous. As passion blurs the lines between love and betrayal, they'll both learn the deadliest lies are the ones they tell themselves.

Once childhood friends, now reluctant strangers—Lady Clara Valdemont and General Darrell Storm are bound by an arranged marriage meant to unite two feuding houses. Once allies, the Storms and Valdemonts were torn apart by betrayal and bloodshed. Now, the kingdom’s fragile peace rests on the shoulders of a bride and groom who barely speak. As Clara walks down the aisle, memories of the boy who used to tease her and teach her how to fish clash with the man waiting at the altar—stoic, cold, and unreadable. Darrell has not forgotten the past, nor has he forgiven it. Their vows are spoken through clenched teeth, their first kiss a mere brush on the cheek. This is not a love story born of fate—it is one that must fight to be written. In a kingdom of politics, pride, and pain, can two broken hearts learn to beat as one again?

　Just two weeks after their wedding, Raphael left for the other side of the world on business. Two years later, when he returned, Grace barely recognized her own husband. 　　 　　Everyone knew their marriage was nothing more than a business deal between two powerful families. To Grace, it was simply the last hurdle on her way to freedom. She barely knew her husband. All she really knew was that he was rigid, dull, and emotionally detached—like a financial machine. She figured he must find her just as insufferable—dramatic, and high-maintenance. When Grace placed the divorce papers in front of Raphael, stating that she wanted to end this loveless marriage, he merely looked at her, his gaze warm yet unreadable. He gently took her hand and murmured in a husky voice, half-smiling, 「Hmm? Did I not please you enough last night?」

The first born son of the Laird to the largest clan on the boarder is one of three identical triplets. But nobody really knows which one was born first! So who will rule? The king will decide. Or will he? To keep peace in the highlands and unite the boarder lands the king feels all three men must have a clan to rule. Since all three are unwed, he chooses brides for them that will result in each of the triplets having a clan to rule and a wife to create heirs with. Assuming the laird named his first son after himself, the king weds Griogair to the second daughter of the clan to the west. He and Eliana would stay on MacInnis land, uniting it through marriage with the MacDonald clan that stretched from their boarder to the west coast. He wed the remaining brothers to clans that had only women as direct heirs. Padraig to the widow Fraiser and Alasdair to the young Isobel whose father owned the land on the east coast. But the men have other ideas. This is a game the men have played since they were small. Padraig tosses a silver coin and his brother's nod, instantly swapping identities as smoothly as taking a step. Will anyone notice they have each chosen their own wife? Just as nobody knows which son was first born, few can tell them apart. Certainly not the emissary or clergy sent by the king! But when the truth comes to light, will it all unravel?