Mary Anne by Daphne Du Maurier

 

 

Don’t you love those older covers?

(4.5) Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned….

You know I love the new cover Sourcebooks put out last year but those older ones are a lot more fun. A bit different from your usual Du Maurier novel, in this one she tells the story of her great-great-grandmother Mary Anne Clarke.

Borne into a poor London family, Mary Anne marries Joseph Clarke who ends up drinking and gambling away any money he gets from his family. Disgusted with the marriage and desperate to support her children, Mary Anne finds herself tempted by a *cough* broker for the wealthy nobility and becomes mistress to Frederick Duke of York. Although being a mistress of a prince with no head for money brings on its own dilemma – how to run a household and a lavish lifestyle on the meager allowance the Duke gives her. With a war looming, men eager for commissions seek preferable treatment through Mary Anne, as the Duke is also the Commander-in-Chief and an offer of money gets a word in the right ear.

Eventually the Duke tires of Mary Anne and she finds herself out in the cold with massive household debts and no pension from the Duke, her brother unjustly cashiered out of the army and her finger is very much in the pie when the scandal of selling commissions hits Parliament with a full blown investigation including the testimony of one very disgruntled ex-mistress. I won’t be a spoiler, but further actions taken by Mary Anne in revenge against those who “done her wrong” don’t work out as planned and sets her on a nine-month path of harrowing consequences.

Du Maurier is superb as always, she had me hooked from the very unusual opening reflecting back on Mary Anne’s life (do go back and reread it after you’ve finished) to the very end as she makes a very final and fitting farewell to the man who had such an impact on her life. The kind of woman you either love or hate, Mary Anne was most definitely a woman who did what she had to do in order to survive in a man’s world and make a better life for her children. Du Maurier doesn’t sugar coat her image either – she’s presented as is, warts and all. I loved the relationship between her and the Duke, particularly their first meeting in the *cough* broker’s parlor where not knowing who she’s set to meet she natters on about the latest court gossip (priceless!), to their first dinner and the popping buttons (you’ll know when you get there) although tops was the way the author worked in Mary Anne getting those officer’s names out there in between seducing the Duke. Its so refreshing to see that an author can write a sex scene so subtly that it isn’t staring you in the face with blow-by-blow details but you know what’s going on at the same time. The only parts that did drag were the court scenes, with endless pages of testimony and dialogue, and for that I’m knocking off 1/2 star – 4.5/5 stars.

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Below the Salt by Thomas Costain

The Last Plantagenet? 

Costain’s tale begins as Richard O’Rawn, a powerful U.S. Senator, contacts aspiring author John Foraday out of the blue and invites him to travel along with him. The Senator tells John about Richard Rawen, who as a young boy is sent to serve as squire in the household of William Marshal. He eventually becomes a knight second to none but the Marshal himself and he is sent on a mission of great secrecy to Brittany where he meets Eleanor, daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and known to all as The Pearl of Brittany for her great beauty.

Unable to save Eleanor and her brother from their respective fates at the hands of King John, Richard’s travels take him to Rome and back in the service of Stephen Langton, and they find themselves in the thick of things in plots to rescue the captured Pearl from Corfe Castle and restore her to the throne as rightful Queen, as well as being involved with the events leading up to the signing of the Magna Carta.

The story then switches back to the present as Costain ties the original Richard Rawen into the O’Rawn’s of Ireland with another Eleanor as beautiful and gracious as the first “Pearl of Brittany”. All in all a very engaging tale, although I admit to being surprised at the time slip Costain worked into it – I was expecting a story set wholly in the past. It’s not the fastest paced book, but I found it an enjoyable, albeit fanciful tale. A big plus was finding one of my all time favorite heroes, William Marshal, as a secondary character -anyone interested finding out more about that most honorable man should look into Elizabeth Chadwick’s The Greatest Knight  and The Scarlet Lion. 4/5 stars.

The Shadow Of The Lynx by Victoria Holt

Thomas Tamasin spends his life chasing rainbows and leaves his daughter Nora firmly ensconced at school as he chases the biggest one of all and heads for the gold fields of Australia. He soon dies and leaves Nora in the care partner/employer Charles Herrick – also known as The Lynx for his dominating personality. Charles’s son Stirling arrives in England to escort Nora to Australia, but they make a curious stop at a country estate called The Whiteladies (named for the nunnery it had been at one time) and Stirling seems to have a strange interest in the estate and it’s inhabitants. Stranger still, when Nora arrives in Australia the Herrick home is a copy of Whiteladies.

Nora soon discovers that The Lynx has a mysterious past of his own, falsely accused of theft in England and deported to Australia as a criminal. As the Herrick family’s fortune increases it leads them ever closer to the obsession of Charles – enacting financial havoc on those he blames for his false conviction. Nora and Stirling return to England with Stirling bent on completing his father’s plans for revenge. They soon insert themselves into the lives of the residents of Whiteladies as Nora fights to stop Stirling before his lust for revenge destroys all their lives.

Whew, that’s more plot description than I care to give but there’s not much on the product page. I found this book a bit slow paced at times and a tad too predictable, especially the murder attempts on Minta. I also found the alternating POV’s between Sara and Minta in the latter part of the book quite distracting. A nice comfort read for a rainy day – it’s a good book, just not a great one.

Mistress of Mellyn ~ Victoria Holt

 

“There are two courses open to a gentlewoman when she finds herself in penurious circumstances…….One is to marry, and the other to find a post in keeping with her gentility.”

With no other prospects in sight, Martha Leigh takes a position as governess for eight-year-old Alvean TreMellyn at her family’s estate Mount Mellyn in Cornwall. Alvean’s mother Alice has been dead for a year, after she ran away with her lover they both died in a tragic train wreck – burned beyond recognition. Her father Connon is cold and withdrawn, especially with his daughter. Martha settles in and builds a relationship with both Alvean and the waif-like Gillyflower and she also finds herself attracted to the master of the house (well of course!), but then things soon begin to go bump in the night in typical Holt fashion.

Does Alice’s presence still live on at Mount Mellyn? Did she really die in the train wreck? Why is Connon so remote from his daughter? What about Connon’s relationship with the beauteous but haughty Lady Treslyn? Who framed the last beautiful governess for theft so that she lost her position and was forced to leave? Does someone want Martha out of the way as well? What about these mysterious blinds in the house where one can watch what is going on in another room without being seen? Does the house have more unknown secrets?

That’s as much as I’m going to tell – read it for your self! Like a couple of the other reviewers, I noticed a definite similarity between parts of this story and Rebecca and Jane Eyre (but that’s a good thing), although she’s still got a surprise or two in store for you that will keep you turning the pages until the very last reveal (gad, what a nail biter). While she’s not quite up to the perfection that is Du Maurier, I think you’ll find this a perfect comfort book to curl up with in front of the fire with a glass of red wine and chocolate.

King of the Castle by Victoria Holt

Um, did I read a different book than everyone else?

Or am I burned out after reading four Holt’s in a row? Inquiring minds want to know…..

Dallas Lawson was trained to follow in her father’s footsteps restoring old paintings but when he dies she’s left at a crossroads – take a position as governess, take charity from relatives or try to continue the career she’s trained for in a man’s world. A commission comes in for her father from the Comté de la Talle of Chateaux Galliard and she accepts, although she “forgets” to mention her father is dead and she’s coming in his place, much to the chagrin of everyone at the Chateaux.

Dallas settles in to life at the Chateaux and begins work on the paintings, but in typical Holt fashion our heroine soon finds things amiss in the household. The Comté is dark and brooding (of course) and suspected of killing his first wife. His daughter Genevieve is a spoiled fourteen year old brat with a penchant for shutting doors at the most inappropriate times (remember that), a mystery surrounding some Emeralds lost during the Revolution along with Dallas’ discovery of a long hidden wall painting that may reveal a clue to the location of those emeralds.

On paper that all sounds appealing to fans of Holt and the romantic suspense genre, but unfortunately this one fell flat as a pancake – at least for this reader. I just did not warm to Dallas; I found no chemistry whatsoever between Dallas and the Comté, Genevieve pretty whiny and irritating, a mystery that wasn’t much of a mystery at all, and worst of all a baddie was pretty easy to guess. Meh. Only for die-hard fans of Holt set on reading all of her books, otherwise I suggest you pass.

The Desert Crop by Catherine Cookson

 Set in Northern England in the late 1800’s, widowed farmer Hector Stewart decides to marry Irishwoman Moira Conelly but here’s the rub – he thinks she’s coming into money and she thinks he’s much better off than he truly is. Nor does Moira realize at first she’s married a drunken, womanizing wastrel on the edge of running the farm into the ground. Nevertheless, Moira has a secret or two of her own and she does her best to make the best of it, which includes an ever growing brood of children.

Hector’s debts and drinking continue to drag down the family’s livelihood, until a fatal accident changes all their lives – but it forever binds Daniel to the land and Moira’s children. Will Daniel ever be able to break free and claim the woman he loves? Does Frances really love him or is she just looking for the best free ride life can hand her? Will Daniel ever wake up and smell the coffee and see the woman who has loved him for years? Inquiring minds want to know….

While this isn’t the fasted paced, page turning, action packed book you’re likely to come across I enjoyed it a great deal and definitely plan on seeking out more from the author – and at about 100 novels she should keep me very busy for quite some time. This is the kind of feel-good comfort book that’s perfect for snuggling up with on a rainy day or a wintry afternoon. 4/5 stars.

Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt

A good comfort book

Raised by a wealthy distant cousin after the death of her mother, Ellen Kellaway is forever reminded that she is the Poor Relation. Resigned to her eventual fate as a governess, she is suddenly taken by surprise when childhood friend Phillip Carrington declares his love and proposes a whirlwind marriage, much to the chagrin of Cousin Agatha who was counting on wealthy Phillip marrying her daughter Esmeralda. Curiously, Phillip’s family is thrilled with the match to a girl with nary a penny to her name. Fate takes a sudden turn before the marriage can happen, and out of the blue appears a distant relative from her father’s side of the family offering her a home on Far Island off the coast of Cornwall. Ellen loves the island and the Castle the Kellaways built hundreds of years ago (dungeons and all), and she soon finds herself falling in love with the island’s owner, Jag Kellaway.

In true Holt fashion, Ellen soon finds herself in the midst of a mystery and things begin to go bump in the night. What is it about her father that none of the villagers wish to talk about? Why did her mother pack up and leave him when Ellen was little more than a toddler? What about the drawings her mother left behind, including one of the room she’s been seeing in her dreams for years? Who is the mysterious girl Silva raised on the Island and presumed dead? Is Ellen just accident prone or is someone trying to do her in? If so, why?

While I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to Holt fans, it just doesn’t quite come up to a four star read. Perhaps it’s because she took too long setting up Ellen’s background and romance with Phillip and then realized at the end she had to hurry up and wrap-things-up-before-the-book-gets-too-long. It is a good book and a perfect comfort book for cuddling up with on a rainy afternoon; it’s just not a great one.

Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

 

“Somehow, in that unguarded moment of memory, he had managed to reach me”

Bryony Ashley’s father is critically injured by a hit and run driver, and he’s only able to live long enough to leave a cryptic warning that she’s in danger, the rest of his words seem to make no sense at all. Or do they? Devastated, she returns to her cottage near Ashley Court, the family’s ancient estate in England, which cannot be sold or broken up without the approval of all members of the Ashley family. As she tries to sort the puzzle left by her father, Bryony also has a secret of her own to resolve – longer than she can remember she’s had a telepathic connection with an unknown “lover” who she believes will reveal himself in the flesh to her when the time is right, and she’s always felt it was her cousin James. Or is it James’ younger brother Francis? I promise, you will never guess.

Ashley soon finds things amiss at the Court. Small, but valuable items are missing. A mysterious stranger is spotted shuffling through church records, and a book of ancient records turns up missing. Who is the Cat her fathered referred to in his last words – the family emblem of the Scottish Wildcat and their motto Touch not the cat? Or is Cat for Cathy, the Underhill’s daughter? How is it that the long neglected garden maze is the same design as the family emblem? Is there a secret tied into the pavilion at the center of the maze, and the Ashley ancestor who built it for his lovers? What secret does the book found in the old library with the same family emblem hold?

Need the answers? Read it for yourself. Although this one started off a bit slow and it took me forever to see where Stewart was taking the story, once she gets all the lose ends wrapped up they all came together in a spectacular nail-biting finish in the midst of a whopper of a storm with deadly consequences. There are plentiful twists, turns and surprises that will keep you guessing and turning the pages. A definite must for Stewart fans.

Jubilee Trail by Gwen Bristow

 Those old covers are a lot of fun aren’t they? Nice to see Bristow’s books out in nice spanking new editions though.

  Jubilee Trail is about just-out of-finishing school Garnet, who meets and falls in love with Oliver Hale while he’s visiting New York from California. Garnet has an adventurous spirit that Oliver indulges and they’re off to California via the Jubilee Trail. Along the way they meet up with Florinda, the “bad” woman with a heart of gold and Garnet and Florinda become great friends, and support each other during the good and bad times as they cross the country and come to California before it is governed by the US.

The author does a very nice job of setting the scenery and the conditions along the trail — you almost feel the dust in your mouth and on your skin and hair. I loved the way she used John’s love of nature so that you can visualize everything from the snow topped mountains, to the red rocks of the southwest, to the wide open ranges, and the flora and fauna of California.

All in all a jolly good yarn, I had a hard time putting this down until the very end at the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill. Highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction, and as this was written 50+ years ago, the love scenes (if you can call them that) are very chaste and well suited for a younger reader.

Calico Palace ~ Gwen Bristow

This author brings the gold rush and San Francisco to life

I actually owned this book in the 70’s (and loved it). I have no idea why I gave it away, as now I had to buy another used copy. Hope I didn’t buy my own back again!

This is a book about Kendra, who with her mother and step father came to San Francisco right before the start of the gold rush. Kendra was an unwanted child, and she soon finds the man of her dreams, marries him and they are off to the gold country. Among the group they are travelling with are Marny, the proverbial good girl gone bad, who is going to the gold camps to set up a saloon/gambling hall with her partner. All goes well at first, until a secret about Ted’s past shatter’s Kendra’s happiness. Marny and Kendra return to San Francisco and Kendra works to rebuild her life, as Marny works on building a new Calico Palace instead of the tent she had at the gold camp.

The author does a wonderful job of bringing both San Francisco and the gold country to life. I loved the touch she put in about the first steamer to arrive with real gold seekers from the east coast, and the harrowing tale of the first group to cross the isthmus. The story takes you through the muck and mud, torrential rains, fires, thievery and everything else that came about as a result of instant wealth that the gold brought. The characters were wonderful, especially Pocket (loved Pocket’s pockets).

All in all a pretty perfect read, and I’m sorry the story had to come to an end. Highly recommended for any lover of historical fiction or tales of the gold country. As a side note, for any who are interested in the gold country and it’s history, I highly recommend taking the time to visit it. So many of the original towns are still there, with much of the original buildings. Up and down Highway 49, it’s one adorable gold rush town after another.