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Summary
Summary
Effervescent bon vivant Lucy Eastlake is a young operetta singer whose star is on the rise in Edwardian London. Though struggling to maintain her beloved great-aunts' household, she holds fast to the belief that "things will work out." Now, with the fiftieth anniversary of a siege her great-aunt Lavinia lived through approaching, it looks like Lucy is right, because a fortune is due to be divided among the survivors. All Lucy and her great-aunts have to do is travel to a small Pyrenees town to claim Lavinia's share of a fabulous treasure in rubies. What could be more simple?
Professor Ptolemy Archibald Grant is the brilliant, straitlaced grandson of a British lord who also withstood the siege. When his grandfather asks him as a matter of honor to escort his old love on the journey, the about-to-be married professor agrees, not expecting Lucy to be part of the bargain. Losing the great-aunts en route, the handsome, buttoned-down professor finds himself caught up in Lucy's quirky, bewildering, and probably illegal efforts to reunite with them, as he is drawn further and further into an inexplicable infatuation with the free-spirited singer. What could be more complicated?
But when unwilling attraction gives way to sizzling passion, both will be forced to confront the ages-old question of whether love trumps honor...or the other way around.
Author Notes
Connie Brockway is a romance writer.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Brockway (No Place for a Dame) delivers a deeply delightful travel-centric romantic comedy. In the fall of 1908, charming operetta chanteuse Lucy Eastlake assists her elderly aunts as they travel from their home outside London to a small town in France, where they intend to claim a treasure. Prof. Ptolemy Archibald Grant, the grandson of Lucy's aunt's old lover, has been volunteered by his grandfather to help the ladies with their mission. When bad weather divides the party, Grant and Lucy brave folk tradition in the Channel Islands, the inevitable loss of their traveling funds, and the dubious joys of hitchhiking through the French countryside. Despite the Edwardian setting, this book is rooted firmly in mid-century screwball comedy, and its banter, slapstick, and lighthearted good spirits are irrepressible. The deftly written protagonists find a touching depth of understanding at the heart of the merriment. Brockway's well researched settings, costumes, and attitudes allow the few bits of anachronistic banter to slide by without grating. This one's a keeper. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Trapped by chance in a military hill station when the Sepoy Rebellion broke out in India in 1857, a small group of civilians and soldiers became the guardians of a fortune in rubies a fortune to be divided among those still alive after 50 years if the original owner had not by then claimed the gems. Now the time has come, and, in a quirky turn of events, Lucy Eastlake, her two great-aunts, and Ptolemy Archibald Grant, the academic grandson of another of the four remaining survivors, are soon on their way to a small village in the Pyrenees, where the money will be dispersed. A vibrant, irrepressible operetta singer gives a buttoned-up, dutiful anthropology professor a new lease on life and love as they hare across France in a madcap jaunt that is just plain fun. Well-drawn secondary characters beautifully share the limelight (Lucy's aunts and their outrageous cross-dressing companion are especially memorable), as parallel action keeps the pace lively and readers engaged. VERDICT Over-the-top hilarious (and a little bit wacky), cleverly written, and unfailingly touching, this historically intriguing Edwardian adventure is another thoroughly entertaining winner for the peerless Brockway (No Place for a Dame), who lives in Minnesota. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
