LOST LOVE FOUND

by Bertrice Small ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1988

Another blue historical by Small--the sixth in the never-ending O'Malley saga--in which the author chronicles the romantic exploits of a sprawling Anglo-Irish clan in Renaissance England. ""The women in this family are known to be quite passionate,"" explains the heroine's mother here--grossly understating it. However, Valentina Barrows, daughter of the lead in A Love for All Time (1986), and freshly widowed, has little experience of love when this newest installment begins. Her cousin, Padraic Burke, and the young Earl of Kempe are happy to help with her education when she goes to court to wait upon the fading Queen Bess. But then the dying words of her old nurse lead her to suspect that her father may not really be her father. . .a doubt substantiated by her mother, who spins a steamy tale of her own captivity--some 20 years ago--in the harems of a Tatar lord and the Sultan in Constantinople (a man ""absolutely insatiable and wickedly lustful""). So off to the Ottoman capital goes Valentina, along with Padraic and the Earl for protection and occasional advanced instruction, to find out just whose get she is. But in the Near East, history repeats itself, for before Valentina can figure out which of her suitors to wed or how to solve the puzzle of her true paternity, she's taken as a white slave by a grand vizier with the requisite unquenchable, twisted sexual appetite. Val has as much character as a blow-up sex doll, and the history as much interest as a wallpaper motif. In short, another costume drama about vixens and swains itching to hop out of their costumes.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION