The Duke and I (2000) is a historical romance novel by Julia Quinn. The work is the first in her eight-book Bridgerton series about the members of a single aristocratic family. Quinn is a prolific romance author, and many of her series involve members of a family or social network, including her Rokesby series, which features the extended family of the Bridgertons. The first Bridgerton novel was adapted into a Netflix series in 2020 by Shonda Rimes. Only editions published since 2019, including the one cited in this guide, include a second epilogue.  

Content warnings for this text include childhood trauma, ableist language, and issues of sexual consent. A note on disability and language: though stuttering is no longer the preferred medical term for what is now called Childhood Onset Fluency Disorder, the term is still in popular use. Quinn’s characters use both “stutter” and the British English term “stammer”; in analytical sections and paraphrases, this guide uses the term “speech disability.”

Plot Summary

The prologue introduces the Basset family, who hold the title to Great Britain’s dukedom of Hastings. The Ninth Duke of Hastings celebrates the birth of a son after years of infertility despite his wife dying in childbirth. The duke’s obsession with family legacy and his high expectations results in tragedy for his son, Simon, who stutters. The Duke rejects Simon and attempts to deny him education and resources. Simon, proud and self-reliant, decides to reject all his father stands for.

The novel’s main action opens with Daphne Bridgerton, a young woman and one of eight children from a prominent London family. Daphne faces another social season and her domineering mother, Lady Violet Bridgerton, has great hopes for whom Daphne might secure as a husband. Daphne is intrigued by the news in Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers, a fashionable anonymous gossip column, that Simon Basset has returned from abroad to claim his title as the Tenth Duke of Hastings. Daphne is a devoted daughter who hopes to find a husband worthy of her affections and intellect. Simon is a friend of her brother Anthony, but her mother discourages their meeting, as Simon has a scandalous reputation with women. Simon, now in his late twenties, is determined never to marry, as marriage and children would mean accepting his father’s vision for him. 

Daphne and Simon meet at a ball that Simon reluctantly attends, and soon he rescues her from a drunken suitor. The two match wits and are immediately intrigued by each other. As they dance, Simon learns that Daphne wants marriage and children but has struggled to find a man she relates to. Daphne is mystified by Simon’s insistence that he will never marry. Simon proposes that they pretend to be in love, to make Daphne a more compelling marriage prospect and ensure he can spend time with someone who understands his refusal to wed. Anthony Bridgerton reluctantly agrees to their plan.

Daphne falls in love with Simon as they spend more time together. Simon becomes increasingly conflicted, as he knows their desires are incompatible. After an evening of emotional upheaval, he kisses her. However, Daphne’s brothers discover them alone together and the evening ends in disaster, with Daphne’s honor at stake. Daphne is stunned and hurt when Simon refuses to marry her and preserve her honor, announcing his intention to die in a duel with Anthony instead. Daphne persuades her brother Colin to find out where the duel will be held, hoping to save Simon’s life. Daphne knows the scandal will ruin her reputation and persuades Simon that they must marry. Simon tells her he is unable to have children, and she accepts this, believing her love for him is enough. Before the wedding, Daphne receives very vague instruction on reproduction from her mother.

Simon and Daphne retire to his ancestral home for their honeymoon, where they enjoy passionate bliss marred only by Simon’s reluctance to discuss his childhood. Eventually, Daphne realizes that Simon lied to her: He has been practicing contraception and is not infertile. She also learns of his childhood trauma at the hands of his father. Daphne tries to convince Simon to have a family with her, but he refuses to consider it and becomes even more furious when she refuses to share a bed with him. When he returns home drunk one night, Daphne attempts to conceive a child with Simon without his consent, and his speech fails him. In outrage and betrayal, Simon leaves Daphne, telling her to contact him only if she does conceive a child.

Daphne returns to London, facing yet another scandal due to Simon’s absence, but she summons him when she suspects that she is pregnant. The couple reconciles, and Simon realizes he has allowed his past trauma and fear dictate his life and his marriage. In the novel’s epilogue, Simon and Daphne celebrate the birth of their fourth child, an heir to the dukedom named David.