THE HEART OF THE ROSE

by June Barraclough ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 16, 1986

A flowery tale of class-doomed love set in 1818-21 England (with an 1848 Epilogue), told with all the sentimental flourishes of a later Victorian period, and brightened with (overly sunny but, in outline, undoubtedly accurate) views of upstairs/downstairs life in a great house in the Yorkshire countryside. Young Anne Tesseyman, gentle child of poor farm-folk, secures a position as seamstress, and then nursery attendant, at Fountaynes Castle, where she'll tend a handful of Lady Georgiana's 11 children. One of ""over a hundred servants and servants of servants and servants of children and servants of horses,"" Anne is happy in this little empire, with new friends and loving, noble kiddies. But then, entering her life--and heart--is the eldest son and heir, Mr. George, Their impossible love blossoms to the point at which Mr. George gasps out: ""My wild rose, my wild rose!""--and s-x ensues. They love, oh, how they love But another man with only lust in his heart ""has"" Anne; it's none other than Mr. George's callous father. The poor victimized ""rose,"" shedding petals, will eventually leave, a bairn (but whose?) on the way. There's a weepy ending to it all. However, bolstering the tale of blighted love are a lively Fountaynes Castle background and a delightful pew-side seat at the coronation of George IV, as 2,000 elite rise to greet him ""with a susurration of silk sliding against silk and the faintest sound of plumes."" Rose-scented romance with addenda on the domestic lives of peers and their underlings. A special for uncritical Anglophiles.

Pub Date: Feb. 16, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION