Ardent Apparitions [Hardcover]

Ellen Fitzgerald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

Sent by her father to live in a real castle, Arabella suddenly finds herself in the midst of adventure and romance when she encounters the dashing Sir Francis and his ghostly ancestors. By the author of The Damsels from Derbyshire.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Arabella Arden sulks when her father decides she should spend some time in a remote Yorkshire castle to get acquainted with her deceased mother's family. Her visit becomes more intriguing, however, when she learns that the residence contains ghosts and a missing ancestral treasure. Sir Francis, a distant cousin also staying at the castle, determines to exorcise its spectral inhabitants, but they have their own plans for their future and for the treasure. Moving through the requisite dangerous escapades, Arabella and Sir Francis prove less interesting than the ghosts in this typical Regency romance by the author of The Damsels from Derbyshire (Walker, 1992). Recommended for readers of the genre.
-Leslie A. Bleil, Western Michigan Univ. Lib., Kalamazoo
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Co (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802712096
• ISBN-13: 978-0802712097
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,030,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting; very gothic, June 9, 2005

By 

E. Lynch "romance book fanatic" (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Ardent Apparitions (Hardcover)

This interesting tale published posthumously under Florence Stevenson's Regency pen name Ellen Fitzgerald would have fit better as one of her Gothic's. There is more suspense then romance but it was an enjoyable story all the same. Another reader of my copy wrote in the front cover "eerily weird" and she was right.

Arabella has been sent to her great aunt's house to recuperate a little from London town life. A beauty and heiress beset by many young men, I tend to think her father did not want her left with just a chaperone (another aunt) while he was in France on business. So off she goes to a rather austere castle populated by some very interesting relatives and FIVE ghosts!

The racket they make! Two young men fight with swords through the night, a young French beauty brought back as a war trophy who eventually murdered her English husband and children haunts the halls, and an ill-fated couple - a matron and her brother-in-law caught in rather compromising position in the hayloft were run through by her jealous husband and wander the halls together.

Besides the ghosts, there is the very handsome Sir Francis whom Arabella develops a tendre for! But does he return her love or is he infatuated by the pretty Constance, another cousin? Why are the ghosts becoming more bothersome? The inside cover leads you to believe Arabella falls in love with one of the ghosts, but that is not the case. All the inhabitants of the castle both living and dead are noteworthy. There is a mystery to solve and some danger for our intrepid castle dwellers. Read it and find out who wins in the end ... specter or man!