The India Fan, Victoria Holt (1988/2013)

Book Source: Net Galley

This was one of the last novels written by Eleanor Hibbert, better known as Victoria Holt, Jean Plaidy, and Philippa Carr.  This extraordinarily prolific writer, who according to this excellent page, jeanplaidy, wrote about 211 books in her lifetime under all her pseudonyms and sold more than 100 million books worldwide, including 23 bestsellers.  The India Fan was originally published in 1988, but it is now being reissued by Sourcebooks Casablanca, so kudos to them for bring back these wonderful stories!

So far, I've read only some of her books under the pseudonym Victoria Holt, including The Landower Legacy, which I have already reviewed, and others like: Mistress of Mellyn, On the Night of the Seventh Moon, Kirkland Revels, and The Mask of the Enchantress (many years ago), which I have yet to write reviews for.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but there is a similarity between Holt's style of writing and that of Madeleine Brent (Peter O'Donnell).  

• The heroines are always English girls who travel to foreign, exotic countries where they experience life changing events before returning to their native home.  
• They often have two or more possible lovers to choose from, including one that has a 'darker' and more dangerous personality, making the heroine doubt her feelings for him, and another who is just so nice that the heroine isn't interested.
• She also seems detached from many of the happenings that surround her, living in a dream-like state.
• They are often sensible girls, principally due to their difficult childhood and/or forced independence.  
• Oftentimes they are orphans.

Anyway, on to the story.

The India Fan was such a terrific and gripping tale that I couldn’t put down until I had finished it!  To be honest, it did start in a somewhat bland tone (as the usual VH), however as the story progressed, it became much more engrossing. 

The whole book revolves around beautiful peacock feathers, the Framling family, and India. 

The Forbidden Queen, Anne O'Brien (2013)

Source: NetGalley

The Forbidden Queen, a historical novel based on the life of Katherine of Valois, definitely caught my attention as it not only is it about a little known (at least by me) queen, it is about a woman who was the mother of King Henry VI (by King Henry V), grandmother of King Henry VII (father of the Tudor dynasty, by her union with Owen Tudor), thus great-grandmother of the infamous King Henry VIII!  

However, even before all this, she was also the daughter of the French King, Charles VI and the infamous Isabeau of Bavaria (who also needs her own novel, by the way!).  This is all a bit too much to take in, so I've posted part of their family tree, which I obtained from www.britroyals.com.  If anybody's interested in seeing the entire Plantagenet family tree, just click on the link and there you have it!

The author very cleverly states in the cover that Katherine is an "innocent wife," a "captive widow", and a "Tudor mistress," giving us the idea that this woman had three separate lives - and indeed she did.  I'm going to be bold enough to include a "pawned princess" title to the set as before she married Henry V, her parents took advantage of her and her siblings to obtain as much power as possible.

Constance: A Story of Early Plymouth, Patricia Clapp (1975)

I remember reading this when I was about 12, and it really marked my life. Twenty years later I still recall certain parts, although I had read it only once. In fact, I've just decided to order a copy for myself since I'll definitely want my students to read it, as well as my daughter whenever she's old enough and ready.

Constance is the story of a young English girl whose family sailed to Plymouth colony in 1620 and all the hardships they had to endure the first couple of years in the New World.  The sufferings, deaths, starvation, loneliness and even everyday events are described very accurately and vividly (including the Squanto and Indians episode), however it is still entertaining enough for adolescents to read and get involved in a very important American historical event. 

Highlander Unmasked, Monica McCarty (2007)

So, I started reading Monica McCarty's Highland Guard series last year, and so got into it that I decided to explore another one of her series, MacLeods of Skye Trilogy  since I was on a MMc binge. BIG MISTAKE.  Highlander Unmasked is the second book of the trilogy, and even though it's predecessor, Highlander Untamed, was lukewarm at best, this one was inferior in quality, in general.

But first of, I've gotta say that I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND why novels featuring Highlanders (OK, most romance novels in general) must have the hero's chest showing. Is that a pre-requisite? Is it in the book contract?

Alright, since I'm through with that, on to the story.

Tregaron's Daughter, Madeleine Brent (1971)

Contrary to what usually happens after reading a book after many years, this one certainly didn't disappoint, quite the opposite, actually, it has definitely stood the test of time!

Peter O'Donnell, aka Madeleine Brent

Before launching into the story, I'd like to talk a bit about the author, Madeleine Brent, who's real name was actually Peter O'Donnell.  The first time I discovered this, shortly after finding Tregaron's Daughter after so many years, I had wanted to read a little more about the writer since oftentimes one can understand their books after knowing a bit about their lives, and to my surprise, the 'she' was actually a 'he!' 

According to wikipedia, Peter O'Donnell was actually a lot more known for his Modesty Blaise series and not his gothic romantic novels.  My first question when I found about his identity was:  

Why did he decide to change his name to that of a woman?  

It is usually the opposite, right? The Brontes come to mind, as does George Elliot.  They obviously suffered from publishing issues due to being women in a repressed society, thus choosing to use pseudonyms, which brought on my next questions:

Was it so that he would be taken more seriously within the genre, as it is most definitely female dominated? 

It must have been a bit difficult for him with his colleagues during the 70's, particularly the male ones, when he launched this series at the urging of his publisher.  Let's face it, the romance genre in general isn't very respected as most people consider it chick-lit or some such demeaning categorization, and that's when women write it... I would imagine it was more difficult for men who demonstrated interest in this area, which leads me to the last question of all: 

Why did he allow his true identity to surface only after he finished his last novel, Golden Urchin?  I don't know, but it seems to me that the author's life was every bit as mysterious as that of his heroines, which ALWAYS seemed to have some undisclosed incident in their lives.

Back to the story:

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte (1848)

     After being a fan of  Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for so many years, I never thought another book by another Bronte would have actually enthralled me just as equally, and on another level, perhaps even more so; but this was exactly what happened with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.  

   Anne Bronte's surprising imagination and powerful narrative certainly caught my attention, especially considering the fact that she was a young, single woman in her twenties at the time this was written.  And not only young and single, but living in an isolated society in which her, along with her sisters and brother, created their own literary world, perhaps to escape the tediousness of living in a small town near the moors, perhaps out of simple genius.