I REMEMBER LOVE

Three separate love stories--15th-century, 16th-century, Victorian--linked by hints of reincarnation from era to era. In the mid-1400s, Yolande, bastard daughter of a dead Lancastrian baron, is taken into the household of the great Earl of Warwick--where her childhood chums include the future Richard III and other greats. But though Warwick has kind intentions when he marries Yolande to porcine Tom Cowley, poor Yolande is turned off by Tom (who has a horrid/pathetic family) and dreams of Sir Joscelyn Conyers, a Warwick loyalist: they consummate their love; Joscelyn will later rescue Yolande when Tom Terrible (and his Nasty Sisters) truss her up in the barn; there'll be a brief cottage idyll before Joscelyn finally deep-sixes Tom and a sister. And Yolande will pray that her lover will be with her always. . . as Joscelyn marches off to his death with Warwick's forces. Switch, then, to Romance Two--in 1538 Canterbury. This time the heroine is Margery, a young, highly reluctant ""concubine"" to a greedy, rich merchant. Her star-crossed love: nice Brother Clement, a priest! But Clement doesn't really feel the clerical call--his vows resulted from a promise to his dying mum--and he yearns to reciprocate Margery's ""brainsick"" passion. Unfortunately, however, Margery and Clement first get involved in a conspiracy to prevent papacy-baiting Henry VIII from looting Canterbury's shrine. And though there's a rural idyll, with broken vows at last, Margery (who has been betrayed by a spy) is accused of treason, sentenced to burn. . . and escapes to an easier death. Are the lovers parted forever, then? Well, not quite. Because, in 1865, young Amy, about to marry mill-owner Arthur, is puzzled as to why her pencil keeps drawing medieval couples on horseback! And, just as wedding plans are underway, a dashing new love appears, of course--equipped with the same sort of dÉjà vu love-memories as Amy's. Not quite as much fun as a steady, single Hardwick tale of lassie spunk--but easy reading from an old pro.