An Offer From a Gentleman is a historical romance by American author Julia Quinn, is the third book in her best-selling Bridgerton series, and was published in 2001 by Avon Books. Set in Regency-era Britain, each novel focuses on the romance of one of the eight Bridgerton siblings. An Offer From a Gentleman, following The Duke and I (2000) and The Viscount Who Loved Me (2000), blends the beloved Cinderella fairy tale with a story of love at first sight between orphaned Sophie Beckett and the handsome, charming Benedict Bridgerton.

Sophie, the secret daughter of an earl, is forced to work as a maid by her cruel stepmother. One evening, she escapes to attend a masquerade at Bridgerton House, where she meets and is enchanted by the second son of the Bridgerton family, Benedict. Sophie flees before Benedict can learn who she is, and two years later, when he meets her again in the guise of a housemaid, Benedict doesn’t recognize Sophie as the mystery woman he’s been looking for. Too intrigued to let her go, he pressures Sophie to become a maid in his mother’s household, where attraction blossoms, but the secret of her birth makes a marriage seem impossible. The novel explores themes of Fantasy in Opposition to Reality, Hidden Identities and Secret Selves, and Family as a Source of Nurturance or Status. Shondaland adapted the Bridgerton books into the popular Netflix series Bridgerton, which began airing in 2020. Each season is devoted to a different book, with Benedict’s story slated for Season 4.

This guide refers to the Avon mass market reprint edition published in 2021.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss abuse and attempted rape. The source text also uses stigmatizing language to discuss birth outside of marriage.

Plot Summary

Sophie Beckett, the daughter of the Earl of Penwood who was born out of wedlock, is treated cruelly by her stepmother, Araminta (Lady Penwood), when the earl remarries. Sophie longs for a family, but Araminta’s daughters—her new stepsisters, Rosamund and Posy—follow their mother’s instructions to reject Sophie, too. When the earl dies, he stipulates in his will that Araminta will receive an additional stipend if she supports Sophie until she is 20. Araminta keeps Sophie under her roof but treats her coldly and demands that she work as a maid, giving her extra duties and no pay.

When the famous and admired Bridgertons host a masquerade ball, Sophie is called upon to help Araminta, Rosamund, and Posy prepare for the event; only Posy shows any kindness toward her. After the ladies leave, the servants dress Sophie for the ball in a gown and gloves that her paternal grandmother owned, along with a pair of Araminta’s shoes. At the ball, Sophie meets Benedict Bridgerton, known as being “Number Two” among the charming Bridgerton brothers. Benedict steals Sophie away to a private terrace, where they dance and share a kiss. Both feel the magic of the evening, but Sophie refuses to reveal her name. She knows that he is a Bridgerton, and thus above her in social station, and she wants to enjoy the dream for one evening.

When it is time to unmask, Sophie flees the ball, leaving behind a glove with which Benedict hopes to identify her. The family crest embroidered on the glove identifies his mystery woman as belonging to the family of the Earl of Penwood, but when Benedict calls the house, he realizes that neither Rosamund nor Posy is the lady in the silver gown who so enchanted him. Araminta, however, guesses that Sophie is the one Benedict seeks, shrewdly deducing that Sophie scuffed Araminta’s satin slippers. Enraged, Araminta turns Sophie out of her house. Sophie steals a pair of shoe clips and leaves.

Two years later, Sophie is a maid in the Cavender household but decides to leave her position due to harassment from Philip Cavender, their grown son. At a raucous house party, Philip’s friends accost Sophie and intend to have sex with her. Benedict, who is bored by the party, confronts the men and rescues Sophie, but Sophie is crushed that he doesn’t recognize her as the woman from the masquerade. She accompanies Benedict to his nearby cottage and nurses him through a head cold, though she recognizes the danger that she might fall in love with him.

Benedict feels attracted to Sophie, but he still dreams about finding and locating the beautiful woman from the masquerade. He offers Sophie a position as his mistress, but she refuses. She cannot take the risk that she might become pregnant and be forced to raise a child who will face the same stigma of birth that she faces. Desperate for an excuse to keep her near so that he might protect her, Benedict pressures Sophie into taking a position as a maid in his mother’s household. Benedict’s mother, Violet (Lady Bridgerton), guessing that her son has feelings for Sophie, offers Sophie a position as a lady’s maid and treats her like a member of the family. Sophie is soon drawn into the warm, affectionate family circle, something she has longed for her whole life.

However attracted she is to Benedict, Sophie still refuses to be his mistress. Yet when he invites her to his home one afternoon, Sophie makes love to him, wanting this intimacy with the man she loves. Benedict is hurt that she won’t stay with him, but Sophie feels like she’s been put in an impossible position. Just as Benedict begins to consider whether he can marry a housemaid, he sees Sophie in a mask playing blind man’s bluff and realizes that she is the woman from the masquerade, the mystery woman he has longed for. Feeling betrayed that she didn’t reveal herself to him, Benedict grows angry and storms away. A heartbroken Sophie decides to leave the Bridgerton employ, but Araminta recognizes her; she has the constable arrest her for theft of her shoe clips.

Both Benedict and his mother come to the jail to rescue Sophie, and Benedict claims that she is his fiancée. Sophie reveals everything about her past, including that she is the daughter of the late earl and that Araminta made her work as a servant. Posy intercedes, claiming that she stole the shoe clips, and she further reveals that Araminta took possession of the dowry that the late Earl of Penwood left for Sophie. Lady Bridgerton convinces Araminta to pretend that Sophie is the “legitimate” ward of the earl, and Benedict takes Sophie to his house, where they declare their love for one another and agree to marry. The Epilogue depicts Sophie and Benedict happily married seven years later. The Second Epilogue relates the love-at-first-sight meeting between Posy and a country rector, Mr. Woodson, a union that results in several children.