Showing posts with label historical romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical romance. Show all posts

Friday, April 20, 2018

The Privateer by Josephine Tey (Pan, 1967)

Thanks to the Green Shed, where I found this one:


The thrilling, swashbuckling story of Henry Morgan...
A freed bondsman, he captured his first Spanish ship with eleven men.
He became the scourge of Spain from the West Indies to Panama. 
He found romance but the sea always called him back to new, ever more daring adventures. 
Set against the stirring background of 300 years ago when dashing privateers risked their lives for treasure and conquest, this exciting book by a famous historical novelist is compellingly readable... vividly alive.

Ahhhrrr!  Buckle me swash, and set me mainsails!  It's a "based on a true story" historical novel, which means most of the people are real, and some of the events, but it's all highly romanticised.  The author, by the way, is better known for her mysteries than for her historical romances!  And a warning—some of the attitudes in this book are not politically correct by modern standards, and may even cause offence.

(The cover looks a bit strange in this scan because a previous owner had covered the book in plastic, and I couldn't remove it without damaging the cover.)


Friday, March 9, 2018

The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer (William Heinemann, 1949)

I found this one in an op shop on the outskirts of Melbourne.



"Miss Georgette Heyer's "The Talisman Ring' has the authentic 18th-century atmosphere; with its embroidered waistcoats, jewelled snuff-boxes, lace handkerchiefs, quizzing glasses and what-nots.  But inside her brocade coats and silken breeches she never fails to provide real flesh and blood animated by the ardours and foibles common nature in each and every period . . .  It is indeed compounded of all the time-honoured ingredients--love, adventure, murder, robbery, a missing jewel, and a woman's wit.  Could anyone ask more?"
--John O'London's Weekly.
It's the second printing of the first Australian edition of The Talisman Ring.

—And this book is still in print throughout the English speaking world today.  Unlike most of Georgette Heyer's romance-writing contemporaries, her books continue to sell well.  I suspect her sense of humour is to blame, because underneath the romantic trappings and historical trappings of her plots she never takes her characters too seriously!

Monday, January 29, 2018

Seven books by Mazo de la Roche (Pan, 1962-1966)

File these under, "I don't like the books, but oh boy, do I like the covers!"  Someone must have loved the series back-in-the-day however, because I found these as a set on a charity bookstall.

Morning at Jalna (1963)

1863 -
South of the Canadian border from Jalna, the American Civil War rages.
Into the peaceful, budding Ontario settlement come intriguing visitors with the polished manners and soft accents of Old Carolina—
Are these elegant newcomers genuine fugitives from war, or, far more alarming to Philip and Adeline Whiteoak, are they agents of the slave-trading Confederate States?

Whiteoak Harvest (1962) 


RENNY and his wife ALAYNE—their marriage near disaster...
FINCH and SARAH return from their honeymoon to upset the household with Eden Whiteoak's love-child... 
WAKEFIELD, engaged to Pauline Lebraux, but tormented by religious doubts... 
A complete and captivating story in its own right, Whiteoak Harvest is one of the famous WHITEOAKS series—world sales total over twelve million books!

Wakefield's Course (1963) 

'You must tell her who she is—and that you can't marry her'
Two star-crossed lovers face an agonizing decision in this surging episode of one of fiction's best-loved families—  
The Whiteoaks of Jalna

Young Renny (1962)

'I thought I was dead to men till you came along' 
A strong and compelling story of the Whiteoaks of Jalna—of a bitter feud, and a shattered love—and of Renny in his fiery youth and first passion.

Finch's Fortune (1962)

YOUNG FINCH—AND $100,000
At twenty-one Finch Whiteoak, proud, sensitive, reckless, becomes the bewildered inheritor of his grandmother's fortune.   
In this enthralling episode from the Whiteoaks saga, the ever generous Finch takes his two Uncles to England, and against a lovely Devonshire background, falls in and out of love with the bewitching Sarah Court—suffering all the youthful agonies of disillusion and frustrated passion.

Mary Wakefield (1965)

EARLY DAYS AT JALNA
Second of the world-famous, world-loved "Whiteoaks" novels, MARY WAKEFIELD tells of the beautiful young governess who came to Jalna in the warm summer of 1893 and of the struggle that awaited her with the pillars of the Whiteoak family, still dominated by the matriarch Adeline... 
Soon Mary became the centre of a family dispute, and it was not until a flood of emotions both violent and tender had been released that life at Jalna could resume its fertile course.

Whiteoak Heritage (1966)

The New Master of Jalna
Captain Renny Whiteoak returns from World War I to find a challenging heritage:
His father and step-mother have died.
The old uncles, Ernest and Nicholas, have been running the estate with a blissful disregard of economics. 
Young Eden, now a student, is involved in a strange and damaging love affair.
To help put Jalna on its feet, Renny employs a brash and beautiful horse-woman, and soon finds that he too is in love... 
Old Adeline wants to see Renny happily married—but who can fill the role of mistress of Jalna?

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge (Pyramid, 1973)


The clouds of civil war hovered ominously over England in 1642, as Puritan and Royalist forces gathered for bitter battle.  Caught in the midst of tumultuous events, the characters in Miss Goudge's gripping novel act out a compelling drama of intrigue and timeless romance.

Awww, look at the groovy people on the cover of this book.  She is wearing Biba and blue eyeshadow.  He has carefully styled and blow-dried hair and looks like he bought his outfit in King's Road.  They're clearly a happening couple from the 1970s.

--Wait a minute.  You're telling me that the story takes place in 1642?

Now this is an example of egregiously generic cover art: it could have been slapped on any paperback romance (and probably was).  I can hazard a guess who the people on the cover are meant to be, but they don't really resemble any of the characters in the book.  It's a pity: the author is better than average, and certainly didn't write the standard kind of hack work usually published in paperbacks of this kind.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Cupid Rides Pillion by Barbara Cartland (Arrow, 1968)

Found in a dusty corner of the shed part of the Green Shed (and pounced upon because it's perfect for this blog):


England under Charles II was a gay, pleasure-loving land.  And Lady Panthea Vyne enjoyed it to the full, for she remembered only too well the dark days of Cromwell's Iron Rule.  She remembered Christian Drysdale, too, Cromwell's bestial tax-collector who had been her husband for a few short hours, until she had been rescued by a mysterious Highwayman.  Five years later, at the richly colourful court of Charles II, others learned her secret, including the jealous Lady Castlemaine... and as the dangers besetting her drew closer, Panthea put her faith in the man whose life was in equal danger--the mysterious, yet strangely familiar Highwayman.
If the fact that the author is Barbara Cartland doesn't alert you to what kind of book this is, surely the fact that the heroine is named Panthea Vyne, must!

Anyway, for those of you who came in late, this was Barbara Cartland:


... self-appointed expert on Romance, upholder of traditional values, step-grandmother of Princess Diana, and the very prolific writer of over 1,000 books.  

Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Woodville Wench by Maureen Peters (Fontana, 1973)

Picked up at a local school fete:


The King's Wife...

Determined to rise above the poverty of her upbringing, Elizabeth Woodville uses her great beauty to win a place in the royal family.

Edward Plantagenet

the handsome young King, risks everything to marry her.

Cecily, of York

the King's mother, welcomes her as a daughter

Richard of Gloucester

Edward's brother, offers her protection when his own life is in jeopardy.

Considered an upstart by many, Elizabeth reigns supreme during the bitter years of the Wars of the Roses.  But behind the brilliant mask is a cold and lonely woman, shivering in the chill of her husband's waning passion, fearful of what lies ahead...
This is an example of what I think of as "cleavage history", where the author takes a real woman from history and writes a wildly romantic fictionalised version of her life.  You can usually spot these by the models on their front covers who generally wear some kind of pseudo-historical garb complete with a deeply plunging  neckline.

In this case our heroine (who seems to have picked her dress up at Biba and who is sporting some very 1970s blue eyeshadow) is Elizabeth Woodville and the story the author is telling is the story of the War of the Roses.

The other giveaway for a "cleavage history" novel is the choice of adjectives on the back cover, which often includes words such as "passionate", "untamed" and "determined".  The Woodville Wench may not be passionate and untamed, but by Jingo! she's determined.

Friday, October 14, 2016

The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain (Tandem, 1971)



Walter of Gurnie, bastard son of the Earl of Lessford, fled from England to escape the enmity of his family and the bitterness of his love for the Lady Engaine.  Wealth and fame and a chance to claim the woman he loved were to be found only in the fabulous realms of the East, if he could win through the savage hordes of Kublai Khan's Mongol warriors, who ruled all of Asia from Persia to the ocean of Cathay.

Joining a caravan under the protection of Bayan of the Hundred Eyes, Walter found Maryam, a beauty as rare as the priceless Black Rose of the spice traders, destined for the Great Khan's harem, and a stronger reason than any other to lead him to the Celestial City of the Manji Emperor.

How Walter followed Maryam to fabled Kinsai, lost her and found her again, makes a superb and stirring romance, filled with the vivid colour and adventure of medieval England and the age-old empires of the East.
 And that just about sums up the entire book... so there's no need to read it.

(I do, however, love the 1970s hairstyles the models are sporting on the cover.  It seems that Vidal Sassoon was hairdresser of choice for the Mongol Hordes!)

Friday, October 7, 2016

Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero (Panther, 1962)


TEMPTRESS!
'A gift, Great Caesar,' the big man said, prostrating himself, 'from a devoted admirer.'

'H'm,' Caesar murmured, fingering his chin.  'You can't mean Ptolemy...!'  

'Judge for yourself, Master,' Appollodras invited, and unrolled the carpet; out of it sprang to her feet the little Cleopatra, apparently as fresh as a daisy and as bright as a newly minted coin.  She stretched her slim, shapely arms above her lovely head, arched her perfect back so that her perfect young body stood out deliciously under the translucent gown, and smiled provocatively at the mighty Caesar.
An Elizabeth Taylor lookalike poses on the cover of this book--not inappropriately, as Joseph L. Mankiewicz loosely based his 1963 movie version of Cleopatra on this novel.  However, at the time this paperback edition was published the movie was still in production--running grossly over-budget and mired in production problems. 

Sadly, anyone expecting "wantonness" in this version of Cleopatra's story (as promised by the cover blurb on the paperback) will be disappointed.  The titillation value of this book is low, even by the standards of the early 1960s.  You might pick up some history, however, as the main characters spend a lot of time playing politics, 1st Century BC style.

 

Thursday, August 11, 2016

At Some Forgotten Door by Doris Miles Disney (MacFadden-Bartell, 1967)

Bought at the closing down sale of one of my favourite bookshops:


STARK TERROR NAILED HER TO THE SPOT

They stood facing each other, her enormous eyes reflecting the fear for her life--the greatest fear she had ever known.

Neither of them moved or spoke, testing the unique bond between them, the bond of murderer and intended victim.

He broke the deadly silence. "If you'd listened to reason..."

She saw his hands clench and unclench.  She could almost feel them at her throat.  She saw him stiffen with the resolve to get it over with.

Hetty hurled the lamp into his face.
... And I don't blame the heroine for being scared of the house - look, there's a giant head growing out of it!

Seriously.  This was sold as crime fiction, but it's much closer to being a gothic romance.  There's a sinister house - check - an orphaned heroine - check - and vague intimations of something being wrong before anything actually happens.  There's a charming young man whom the heroine insists on marrying even though everyone warns her against him.  And it's not until the very last chapter of the book that the heroine goes exploring and discovers a secret room filled with dead bodies.

Lastly, At Some Forgotten Door is set in the 1880s.  This came as quite a shock to me when I opened the book, because there is nothing on the cover to indicate that it is a historical novel!

Thursday, July 21, 2016

The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt (Fontana, 1972)


Voyage into mystery...

When Anna Brett sets sail for a Pacific island, she is already in love with Redvers Stretton, captain of the Serene Lady.  Stretton has lost an earlier ship in mysterious circumstances, and with it some priceless diamonds.

On the primitive island of Coralle, with its beliefs in witchcraft and the powers of darkness, the truth about Captain Stretton comes to light.  And the haunting riddle of the Secret Woman is finally revealed...
Here we have a variation on the Women Running From Houses theme--Woman Standing in Front of a Palm Tree.

This book actually got me thinking: namely that Gothic Romances share a lot of the ingredients of crime fiction, but they're mixed in different proportions.  Here we have a story filled with crime--murders, attempted murder, sabotage (the hero's ship is blown up), theft (the priceless diamonds mentioned above), blackmail and identity theft (the plot's resolution turns on the swapping of two babies many years before).  Yet none of these seem really important--instead the story focuses on the emotions of our rather passive heroine.

Again, unlike in crime fiction, no one actively seeks to solve the crimes or bring the perpetrators to justice in this book .  The heroine, as I said, is rather passive and very naive.  She lets things happen to her rather than directing events.  The hero is absent through most of the book and if anything, is even less interested in investigating mysteries than the heroine.  There's an anti-heroine (in another kind of story she'd be a femme fatale!) who is responsible for the murders and attempted murders.  However her misdeeds take place offstage--and her downfall is recorded in a short chapter and is brought about by accident.  None of her co-conspirators are caught or face any kind of punishment for their crimes.

So I'm left imagining the story as written by a different author: a story where hard-boiled Captain Stretton searches for the men who blew up his ship and stole the diamonds, and tangles with the shady dame who tries to poison him....

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Skye Cameron by Phyllis Whitney (Coronet, 1974)

One of my "Green Shed" finds!


'No woman could ever be indifferent to such a man'


'A great brute of a man' they called him... 'uncouth, rude'.  They said he had been in prison, that he was a murderer ... and worse.  But the moment Skye Cameron caught her first glimpse of Justin Law, her heart beat uncontrollably.  She knew herself to be irrevocably drawn to the big, intense man with the mysterious past.
Skye Cameron was a redhead, strong-willed and impetuous.  But when she challenged respectable New Orleans society she was forced to defy the world she knew for a love she could not admit.

'A story ripe with the adventures of a flaming-haired heroine who is at leas kissing-kin to Scarlett O'Hara'
New York Times
Well the cover gets one thing right anyway--the heroine's hair is read.  Sort of.

But that is the only thing that appears to be right about the cover.  The novel takes place in genteel New Orleans in the late nineteenth century--the heroine is apparently wandering around a burning plantation looking disheveled and wearing nothing but her shift.  She looks a bit jaundiced, too, with that yellow complexion, and her expression says "Night of the Living Dead" to me more than "defying the world for love".

Also the hero, that "great brute of a man" is missing from the cover.  Make of that what you will...

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Solomon and Sheba by Jay Williams (Corgi, 1960)

Another one from the Green Shed, source of many things strange and wonderful.  Judging from the creases on the cover, it's been well read:


SOLOMON AND SHEBA

Great king, and beautiful, barbaric queen--the most passionate and sensuous love story of all time.
Does anyone else think Sheba there looks kind of masculine?  Or maybe the dancing girl is Solomon in drag.

Anyway, they don't write 'em like this anymore.  Solomon and Sheba is the sort of historical epic where the characters talk with a twisted Ye Olde Englishe syntax and vocabulary in order to show that they're... well, historical.  Strictly speaking, given the setting, they should be talking in Ancient Hebrew:
"Call me not 'king' this morning, I pray you," he said.  "I have set aside that heavy mantle for these few days.  I will not think of cares; there will be time enough for that when..."  He paused.  And when she looked at him he went on, "When my sister, Balkis, feels that she must return to her own place.  I would that day might be put off forever."
(Page 123)

But as a bonus, this book was turned into a movie, so it comes complete with... stills from the picture!    There are eight pages of plates in the centre of the book.  And look, Yul Brynner has hair!