The Duke and I

The Duke and I is a historical romance by the American writer Julia Quinn, published in 2000 by Avon Books. It is the first of her novels about the eight Bridgerton siblings, and it tells the story of the eldest daughter of the family.

Simon Basset has been away from England for years and comes back to take up his title with a determination not to provide an heir. He was neglected by his father because of a severe stutter and has taught himself to be silent and inaccessible instead, which the society around him reads as pride. At the house of his godmother, Lady Danbury, he sees a young woman dealing with an importunate suitor by knocking him down, and the encounter interests him until he learns that she is Daphne Bridgerton, sister of his friend Anthony. Daphne's mother has been presenting her for several seasons without success, her brother is protective, and the arrangement the two of them settle on gives her the appearance of being spoken for and gives him relief from being hunted. Their own account of the situation is that it is practical, which lasts until both of them begin to take it seriously.

Quinn set the series in the Regency period, and the book works within the conventions of the genre: the season, the drawing rooms, the rules about who may be alone with whom, and the family politics that decide a marriage.