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When she was only seventeen years
old, Julia Hastings ran away with a nobleman in the hopes of marrying him. But the
nobleman, Robin Marlowe, unexpectedly jilts her and returns her to her parents, unwedded
and with intact virtue. But this does not matter a whit to the gossipmongers who shred her
reputation to bits, and as a result her whole family is deeply affected by it.
She decides to go away and from then begins a life
of employment in strange households. But one thing does not change – wherever she
goes, her beauty and vitality attracts men like bees and she has to leave that job and
move on again. In fact, this has become so routine with her that the ladies of the
employment agency are in despair to ever find her any employment.
Her experience has taught her a bitter lesson, one
that she has learnt with her whole heart - never to trust another man again, as long as
she lives. But her resolve is tested to the utmost, when Lord Nicholas Daventry enters her
life. Not only is he a devastatingly handsome and attractive man, but he is also
Robin’s uncle. From their first meeting, sparks fly. Both are strong-willed and
neither of them is willing to yield.
Nicholas believes Julia to be a woman who likes
only those men who can keep her in money and he absolutely hates it that he himself
is attracted to her. Julia, on the other hand, believes that he is a madman who has
escaped from an insane asylum somewhere. It makes her question her own sanity when she
discovers that she is actually longing for his touch. And then Nicholas coerces Julia into
doing something, which she has no intention of ever doing. How all is resolved forms the
whole basis of the book.
The character of Julia elicits the reader’s
sympathy as circumstances spiral completely out of her control. Nicholas initially comes
across as a very self-involved man who does not care a bit for others; but the author
provides sufficient reasons and explanations to make it all seem very plausible and he is
exonerated completely. It is the ending, where all the mystery is solved, which provides
the readers with quite a shock, all the more so because it is quite so unexpected.
Edith Layton has once again a crafted a novel full
of ups and downs. Though it begins normally enough, the twists and turns begin soon
afterwards and the scene of the action shifts from London to Paris. The author has made
some small errors in the book. The errors, though, are not very significant and do not
detract from the enjoyment of the book. This novel can be called a companion to her
‘The Disdainful Marquis’ book as many of the secondary characters are the same
and in fact, both books are set in the same time period and in the same locales. Signet
has released both books in a convenient double edition to make it all the more easier for
the readers. A worthy read.
Reviewed by Rashmi Srinivis for the Road to Romance
July 12, 2002
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