The Dark and Alien Rose - Hardcover

By the English author of cheerful period romances like Margaret Normanby (1983)--Margaret of that title appears here--and Bright Young Things (1986), here are the WW I-era adventures of an exotically beautiful, charmingly chirpy Persian/English lass raised in France, who, after a luxurious start in life, later suffers for love. Shareen ``Rose'' Aberderhazy, passed over at birth to the care of a devoted nanny/companion by her mother Baroness Charmian (``the most notorious woman in Nice''), is at first, after her mother's death, placed under the loving guardianship of ancient ``uncle'' Ferdi L‚on, former husband (and partner in their famous dress- design business) of Charmian's sister Margaret. Rose falls deeply in love with Tom, Margaret's son by manufacturer Henry Grimshaw. There are deaths all around, and Tom goes to war, is declared missing and then dead. (The bodies found were ``unrecognizable,'' and readers of romance know what that means.) Grieving Rose, pregnant (of course) after one night of love with Tom, marries unstable Alban, predictably a terrible mistake. It's soon obvious that Alban is into slimy pursuits, and there's violence aplenty before the happy end. Pleasant--with all these elegant surrounds--and forgettable. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The few interesting details in British author Edgar's ( Bright Young Things ) disappointing novel are canceled out by its idealized heroine, predictable plot and effusive, melodramatic tone. Shareen "Rose" Abderhazy is the illegitimate daughter of English baroness Charmian Abderhazy and one of her many Persian lovers. Charmian dies, leaving Monsieur Leon, an elderly couturier, as Rose's guardian. Shortly afterward Leon dies, too, and 14-year-old Rose is sent from the Riviera to London to live with his former wife and business partner, Margaret, who happens to be Charmian's twin sister and to have an illegitimate son, Tom Grimshaw, 10 years older than Rose. After being expensively and exclusively educated, clever, sexy, too-perfect Rose ambitiously sets about seducing her first love, Tom, in hopes of becoming the perfect rich wife. With the advent of the First World War, Tom holds off on marriage, but supposedly intelligent Rose persists, believing that sex will complete their love. Pregnant as Tom is reported first missing in action, then dead, Rose marries well-connected but obsessively jealous Alban Stoneberry to avoid scandal. All conflicts are resolved in a sickly sweet ending.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.