LORD OF RAVENSLEY

by Constance Heaven ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 1977

Plots, subplots, and subsubplots; an impotent child-beating villain; and (above all) a well-researched setting in the English Fens during the ""Captain Swing"" peasant uprisings of the 1830s--those are what make this year's froufrou by a veteran buttercup a wee bit better than usual. Oliver Aylsham has been bewitched by and sleeping with the fair sexpot Alyne, his adopted sister (rescued as an infant from a basket in the fens), but when his longlost wicked uncle Justin turns up to claim the manor, she ditches him in no time. Justin is soon oppressing the peasantry as well as his family, and they, being starved and fearful of his plans to drain the fens (which are their livelihood), rebel. They find a leader in Oliver's friend, young crofter Jake Starling, who narrowly escapes hanging and lives as an outlaw in the fens, most unsuitably loved by Oliver's little sister Cherry. Tangled lineages galore, floods and riots, rakes and near-rapes, a certain amount of Robin Hooding on Oliver's part, and his rescue from jail by spunky neighbor Clarissa, who gets to marry him as a reward but must apply elbow grease to win his love back from Alyne, La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Fennies from Heaven--and rather agreeable ones at that.

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION