NEVER CALL IT LOVING

by Dorothy Eden ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 1966

A very feminine version of one of the world's great love stories--Kitty O'Shea and Charles Parnell. The technique employed is encountered most often in the critically suspect form of young teens' historical novels (sometimes called biographical fiction) wherein the subjects are idealized to a fair-thee-well while their enemies are dipped in dyes deeper than black. So it is with Katherino O'Shea, first glimpsed as the over-thirty mother of three, the estranged wife of Captain Willie O'Shea, an Irish member of Parliament and a thorough cad. He encouraged Kitty, still acting as his hostess, to play up to Parnell who was then at the peak of his career as Parliamentary champion of Irish land reform. The story is told from Kitty's ruffled corner, with the politics sparingly parceled out and the pulse of their romance constantly checked. They flirt, they burn, they begin slipping around, they are caught in a roiling, moiling passion too strong to deny, they live in secret sin, then openly, until Willie's greed for position tears it. Kitty is a reluctant voluptuary and their adultery is not explicitly rendered. Parnell is passionately faithful and marries her after all is discovered and dies young, his political career unfulfilled. It's all handled like the neo-gothic romances of Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, et al, and the market is as high as the top of the bestseller list, because it would seem from the makeup of that guide that lady-like lust only hinted at has as strong an audience appeal as sex spelled out.

Pub Date: May 2, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1966

Categories: FICTION