ISBN: 0-385-14597-7 Order from: Amazon.com
A typical Brent romantic thriller, this implausible but pleasant adventure features a plucky heroine, a friendly English family, an evil nemisis, and a burdened, romantic hero.
Reviewed by David on June 06, 1999
Genre: Romance (Suspense, Romance, Historical)
Synopsis: Emma Delany is raised by her aunt and uncle on their Jamaican plantation after the death of her parents. Before her eighteenth birthday, the naive, outspoken and tomboyish girl enters an arranged wedding, full of hope and trepidation. Her life proves darker and more dangerous than she ever expected, and it is her friendship with the lower-class natives that may prove her salvation.
Full Review: Emma proves a vulnerable but capable heroine. Eagerly learning skills that no well-raised English girl would consider, she gets a second chance at happiness far away from the stately life of Jamaica's English society. Unsurprisingly, it is her courage, unconventional skills and generosity that prove an entrée back to the polite society and her hope for friends and family.
The villains in this Victorian adventure are properly dark, the good guys are brave and kind, if occasionally obtuse in the matters of romance, and the good are ultimately vindicated, if only after their death. It is a predictable, implausible romp, marred by slight but clumsy foreshadowing; but appealing characters together with a fast, streamlined style make this book a pleasant diversion.
Overall: 5.5; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 5.5; Style: 5; World-building: 5; Originality: 5.5;
Copyright date 1981, Doubleday and Company, 1982, Cloth, 349 pages
ISBN: 0-385-14597-7 Order from: Amazon.com