Book Review #2

The Lady and the Lost Heir: The Mismatched Lovers (Book Five)

Author: Fil Reid

Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc., Moreno Valley, CA

 

Rating– 5 out of five stars

 

A story which takes place in the English countryside in the early nineteenth century after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. Sir Geoffrey Madeley has died unexpectedly, leaving his young wife, Miranda, and their three daughters to occupy Windrush Hall, a thousand-acre estate consisting of many tenant farms, including one long-vacant farm known as Rampton Farm, which becomes the center of focus as the story develops. 

The plot begins when Mr. Pratt, the solicitor, comes to inform Lady Miranda Madeley that an heir has been found, thereby solving the problem of Sir Geoffrey having had no sons to inherit his estate. Not only this, but Geoffrey left no will providing for the care of his wife, nor did he provide dowries for his daughters, leaving them only the ragtag Rampton farm, and then only temporarily until Miranda remarries. 

The situation is not improved by Mr. Pratt’s announcement, as Lady Madeley now feels obligated to remove herself and her daughters from Woodrush Hall and move into the dilapidated old farm, taking their precious horses with them (horses which they now no longer even own). Certainly, from the perspective of the Twenty-first Century, one shudders at the unjust and heartless institutional dismissal of Lady Madeley as she is left virtually penniless (and servant-less) and her daughters suddenly without the resources to maintain standing in a society that defines people according to class, title, and wealth.

However, the Heir, a certain Captain Henry Madeley, is not the kind of man that Lady Miranda Madeley expects. He happens to be a young man who served in the Rifle Brigade, serving as a regimental field surgeon, a humble man of modest means who happens to be a war hero suffering shrapnel injuries he received in battle. Harry, as he’s called, finds himself quite lost in the big, empty house full of strange servants who’ve got no one to serve but him.

The reader is now left wondering how long it will take Captain Henry to discover Rampton Farm and just exactly who it is over there that his heart will attach itself to, as he has a couple of fine choices.

The plot takes a curious turn when the local and not precisely handsome magistrate, Sir Julian Horncastle, appears on the scene to announce his own interests in the occupants of Rampton Farm, long-held interests which he has somehow deluded himself into believing he’s entitled to pursue.

In a world where so much writing seems poorly edited and not even very well proofread, say nothing of being disciplined in style, voice, and technique, I found Fil Reid’s writing refreshingly staid. While it is one thing for a writer to pour out the ink in a swirl of lively phrases in keeping with the voices of her characters, which can be good writing also when it’s done right, but there are writing situations that call for more conventional speech and stricter storytelling methods. And this is one case where that’s true: a time and place in history where words are best left pressed to the edges of the page with hot steam to flatten out unsightly wrinkles; and where the artist with the pen respects the stricter disciplines of the narrative. For example, there’s the key and informative dialogue that’s got the mood of the current epoch imbedded within it, its practical concerns which resist direct expression; and there’s always the point of view which I’ve noticed a lot of writers treat carelessly, but that Reid takes care with. Great care, actually. I especially appreciate the close writing. While this is written from the third-person perspective, Reid writes close to her characters and even moves inside them to grab internalizations that help tell the story in a showing way. She does this using only four of the characters: Harry, Miranda, Melissa, and Julian. These are her voices. It’s simple and effective storytelling. I like it and would like to read more of her work.

And by the way, for those who may be hesitant to pick up a book in the middle or end of a series, I can tell you this story stands by itself just fine.

–H R Novelton