Serial · ongoing
Her Borrowed Name
Set in the rigid, class-bound society of 19th-century Calderport, *Her Borrowed Name* traces the daring rise of Nell Corrigan, a quick-witted dance girl from the cotton mills of Harlan’s Mill. After spending every cent of her savings to sneak into an elite Van Alst family banquet at the Wexford Hotel — hidden inside a slop cart — Nell is trapped in a dark storeroom when a sudden gunshot throws the entire event into chaos. Framed and helpless with no way out, she hears a low, calm male voice speaking from inside her own head: a mysterious, unseen presence that holds impossible, intimate details of the city’s wealthiest families, and promises to get her free if she obeys his every word without question. With nothing left to lose, Nell follows his instructions. She steps before the gathered sneering social elite and claims to be a long-lost upstate cousin of the powerful Van Alst dynasty, armed with private family truths no outsider could ever possibly learn. Overnight, a nameless working girl becomes the most puzzling, talked-about mystery in Calderport’s upper circles, her borrowed identity both her only shield and a tightening noose.
Chapter 1: A Cousin from Upstate
Do as I say and I'll land you higher than you've ever been. Nell stopped counting the slats. Her finger stayed where it was, on the fourth o…
Chapter 2: A Lady of Her Standing
The patrolman stood with the door half open, looking down the corridor, and the light came in flat across the boards and the crates. "Well,"…
Chapter 3: Say It Again
Say It Again He came down the corridor at a walk, and people moved out of his way without being told to. Nell had seen him from the far end…
Chapter 4: Say Something Nobody Knows
"Wait," said Miss Lund. The patrolman's thumb stopped on the ring. "Mr. Van Alst. One moment." She came forward, and her skirt caught the co…
Chapter 5: I Come Here All the Time
The lobby of the Wexford went up twelve floors and did not stop. Nell came out of the service corridor with four sets of hands on her, and s…
Chapter 6: The Check
The Check For a while nobody told her the joke. Then they all began to be busy. Mrs. Ott rose with her gloves in her hand and said she had l…
Chapter 7: On the Van Alst Account
"Nell Corrigan," she said. The waiter did not pick up a pen. "Put it in the book," she said. "Nell Corrigan. I'll be in Monday with the mone…