A Regency Romance for St Valentine's Day!
This Regency Romance is set in the
north of England, in County Durham but as it also takes place among polite
society, location actually makes little difference - this little community
offers as much intrigue as London or Longbourne. And it owes something to Jane
Austen in presenting us with a charming uniformed young man and a rather
reserved, upright Marquess. So you can see the plot unfolding well ahead of
you, but that really is of no consequence. As ever, it is the journey that
matters, not the obvious destination.
Frances, Lady Rathmere, is a delightful
heroine with enough common sense and strength to satisfy the modern reader and
yet enough delicacy and sensibility to be acceptable to the time in which the
novel is set. A widow when we meet her, she enjoys more freedoms in society and
is yet aware of the very strict boundaries of those freedoms. That doesn't mean
to say she always remains within them...
Jack, our Marquess hero, is strong
enough to be the perfect foil to Frances and yet he is damaged and broken when
he bursts into the story, grief-stricken by the death of his wife of only ten
months. He has fled London for the peace of a run-down family estate adjoining
Gybford, and hence he and Frances meet.
There were a few typos in the version I
read, but that apart, this novel is the kind you want to curl up with on a
winter evening under a blanket. It is a classic Regency Romance, one of the
better written of the genre that I have come across, with characters that are
distinct and memorable. They do exactly what you expect of them and in this
genre that is what you want. It owes more than a passing nod to Pride and Prejudice and that is no bad
thing. If you love Lizzie Bennett and Mr Darcy you will adore Frances and her
Jack.
© Nicky Galliers
< previous ... next >
No comments:
Post a Comment
We do not accept comments. If you need to contact Discovering Diamonds go to the CONTACT facility
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.