Daisy Whitlaw is the sole support for her mother, who is in poor health. When a charity bequest is offered for the best proposal to start a new business, she seizes on the fact that the contest does not technically say it is open only to men to set out her plan to open an emporium for working class women.
Crash comes from a proud line of sailors and dock whores. He's of uncertain paternity and mixed race, and dubious associations. He also charms men and women alike, refuses to let anyone else define his place in the world, and is currently planning to open a shop to sell velocipedes, a less stable predecessor to the bicycle.
Crash and Daisy had a tryst some months before that ended in a stupid argument, and then Crash left the country. Now he's back and is prepared to teach Daisy how to swagger and bluff her way through the final presentation of her proposal.
This is a novella, and almost necessarily a rather simple story, but it is elegantly done. The conflict between Crash and Daisy is resolved naturally, as spending time with each other again leads them each to understand how the other heard what they'd said back when things went wrong. Supporting characters don't get as much space as they would in a full novel, of course, but Crash and Daisy's family members are all a joy for as much as we do see them. And of course, since it's a Courtney Milan story, the dialogue is terribly entertaining and the plot uplifting and feminist in a completely believable 19th century kind of way.
Overall: A+