THE NOBLEST FRAILTY

by Patricia Veryan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 21, 1983

Another bland but busy Regency novel in Veryan's saga about villainous plotting Frenchman Claude Sanguinet--who's not on hand much here, having been temporarily done in by likable, handsome, rich Alain Devenish in Married Past Redemption (1982, p. 1313). Alain's troubles aren't over, however: his lovely fiancÉe Yolande Drummond won't set a wedding date, claiming that she's waiting for Alain to ""settle down."" After all, he was sent down from Cambridge and asked to leave his regiment, and there was some sort of a scandal about his adventures re Sanguinet. Then Alain's young Canadian cousin Craig Tyndale arrives, meeting Yolande in the standard Regency clash of horses: he's a charmer, but Alain takes an instant dislike to him, complete with quick temper and fisticuffs--especially when Alain's Uncle Alastair reveals that Tyndale's father Jonas probably killed Alain's father. Meanwhile, Yolande skirts away from scandal and her growing interest in Tyndale via a trip to her grandfather in Scotland--where Sanguinet's scoundrelly aide James Garvey (met in a previous novel) butters up Yolande and her aunt. . . while making plans to polish off Tyndale and Alain, who are following. But the cousins, though beaten by Garvey's men and having at one another from time to time, do finally arrive in Scotland--with wee waft Josie, whom Alain has rescued from prostitution. And eventually, after ghost-haunting in Tyndale castle and the resurrection of Sanguinet, the love problems are sorted out--while little Josie is on her way to lady-hood. (Undoubtedly she'll reappear in the next novel--with, one hopes, more bearable diction: ""You be so good to I. Does you like Josie?"" Not particularly.)

Pub Date: Nov. 21, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION