"The Two Destinies" is a manageable little number about George and Mary – star-crossed lovers from different social classes. The setting is mid-19th Century England – a convenient Collins favourite. But before you glance at your copy of Pride & Prejudice, groan about this novel being yet another installment of a tired old trope and unpause "Bootylicious", keep reading because there's more! Old fortune-telling crones, transatlantic voyages, fat inheritances, malicious scandals, starving children, attempted suicides, spectres and disabled people – the story is a hotpot of explosive adjectives and colourful nouns. For the period at least.