TOPAZ

by Helen Ashfield ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 18, 1987

For fans of the series, the latest in Ashfleld's so-so jeweled melodramas (Emerald, Ruby, Pearl, Sapphire), this time featuring hot-tempered beauty Topaz Chilcott--a young gypsy ""wild as the Moor itself""--who moves from the wilds to a convent to the predictable happy ending with the ""most handsome man she ever met"": the Marquis of Rossmayne, smitten (as she was) at first sight. Among the other characters are: Rossmayne's best friend, poor Timothy Amsterdam, also obsessed with dreams of the lustrous Topaz; the wretched young (and ""plain"") Honor West, for years deeply in love with Amsterdam; two wives of Rossmayne's, one the scheming and much-hated Horatia (presumably drowned), the other the delicate and early-to-die Virginia; and the kind, elderly Lord Lovat, who ""rescues"" Topaz before conveniently dying himself. After a not-unexpected series of calamities--here including an outbreak of scarlet fever--there's the familiar happy close.

Pub Date: Aug. 18, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION