First in the Heiress series.Leonie de Conyers' life had been destroyed by the French Revolution. Her mother and brother died in the prison where she had been raped and starved for no greater crime than her father's title. And her father died in an escape engineered by a stranger who claimed he had come to bring her to England where she would inherit the property and wealth of an uncle. Did Leonie dare to believe in such altruism? Roger St. Eyre's life had been destroyed by the girl he fell passionately in love with. Solange did not love him; she was selfish and vicious and extravagant. By the time she died, Roger felt dead himself. Perhaps he was hoping for the peace death brings when he set out to wrest his old friend Henry de Conyers from the murderous grip of the French Revolution.Instead, Roger and Leonie found love and reasons to live-if they could escape exposure to the revolutionary fanatics and their favorite toy, the guillotine.Publisher Note: This book was originally published elsewhere in 1979.
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More About the Author
Roberta Gellis has a varied educational background--a master's degree in biochemistry and another in medieval literature--and working history--10 years as a research chemist, many years as a free-lance editor of scientific manuscripts, and more than 40 years as a writer. She is married--to the same man for over 60 years (no mean feat in these days) and lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with her husband Charles and a lively Scottish terrier called Zoe. She has one child, Mark, who teaches Rhetoric (a fancy name for expository writing) at Kettering University in Michigan. Mark is married to Sandra and they have a lovely daughter, Elizabeth.
Gellis has been a successful writer of historical fiction, publishing over 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. The best known of these are The Roselynde Chronicles (ROSELYNDE, ALINOR, JOANNA, GILLIANE, RHIANNON, and SYBELLE). The series has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1979, most recently in 2006. Gellis has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period (more than once) and Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, as well as Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Acheivement Award.
More recently Gellis has ventured into other genres, starting with mythological fantasy (DAZZLING BRIGHTNESS, SHIMMERING SPLENDOR, ENCHANTED FIRE, BULL GOD, and THRICE BOUND). Most recently she has written historical fantasy, with a series of book coauthored by Mercedes Lackey set in Elizabethan times (THIS SCEPTER'D ISLE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES, and AND LESS THAN KIND). Before that she was writing historical mysteries, a four-book series set in London and Oxford in 1139 (A MORTAL BANE, A PERSONAL DEVIL, BONE OF CONTENTION and CHAINS OF FOLLY) and one set in the Italian Renaissance in Ferrara (LUCREZIA BORGIA and the MOTHER OF POISONS).
Since Gellis is one of the early addicts to electronic readers---she purchased a RocketeBook way back in 1999---it is no surprise that she was eager to get her own out of print historical romances into electronic format. Cerridwen Press (http://www.cerridwenpress.com) has published the Heiress Series (THE ENGLISH HEIRESS, THE CORNISH HEIRESS, THE KENT HEIRESS, FORTUNE'S BRIDE, and A WOMAN'S ESTATE) as well as the Royal Dynasty Series (don't ask me about that, there isn't a royal or a dynasty in any of the four books---it was a notion of a long-ago agent) SIREN SONG, WINTER SONG, FIRE SONG, and A SILVER MIRROR. Cerridwen offers a variety of formats, one of which can be read by the Kindle and for those too firmly addicted to paper, the books are also available in a very nice Trade edition (but those are rather expensive).
I'm sorry I don't have any amusing anecdotes to relate, as recommended by the Profile, but a writer's life is really very quiet. Sometimes my neighbors ask my husband what has happened to me because they haven't seen me in such a long time. Depending on his humor of the moment, sometimes Charles tells them that I can't come outside because he keeps me chained to my computer---but that isn't true. He lets me get up once in a while.
Roberta Gellis
Gellis has been a successful writer of historical fiction, publishing over 25 meticulously researched historical novels since 1964. The best known of these are The Roselynde Chronicles (ROSELYNDE, ALINOR, JOANNA, GILLIANE, RHIANNON, and SYBELLE). The series has been reprinted many times since its first appearance in 1979, most recently in 2006. Gellis has also been the recipient of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period (more than once) and Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, as well as Romance Writers of America's Lifetime Acheivement Award.
More recently Gellis has ventured into other genres, starting with mythological fantasy (DAZZLING BRIGHTNESS, SHIMMERING SPLENDOR, ENCHANTED FIRE, BULL GOD, and THRICE BOUND). Most recently she has written historical fantasy, with a series of book coauthored by Mercedes Lackey set in Elizabethan times (THIS SCEPTER'D ISLE, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES, and AND LESS THAN KIND). Before that she was writing historical mysteries, a four-book series set in London and Oxford in 1139 (A MORTAL BANE, A PERSONAL DEVIL, BONE OF CONTENTION and CHAINS OF FOLLY) and one set in the Italian Renaissance in Ferrara (LUCREZIA BORGIA and the MOTHER OF POISONS).
Since Gellis is one of the early addicts to electronic readers---she purchased a RocketeBook way back in 1999---it is no surprise that she was eager to get her own out of print historical romances into electronic format. Cerridwen Press (http://www.cerridwenpress.com) has published the Heiress Series (THE ENGLISH HEIRESS, THE CORNISH HEIRESS, THE KENT HEIRESS, FORTUNE'S BRIDE, and A WOMAN'S ESTATE) as well as the Royal Dynasty Series (don't ask me about that, there isn't a royal or a dynasty in any of the four books---it was a notion of a long-ago agent) SIREN SONG, WINTER SONG, FIRE SONG, and A SILVER MIRROR. Cerridwen offers a variety of formats, one of which can be read by the Kindle and for those too firmly addicted to paper, the books are also available in a very nice Trade edition (but those are rather expensive).
I'm sorry I don't have any amusing anecdotes to relate, as recommended by the Profile, but a writer's life is really very quiet. Sometimes my neighbors ask my husband what has happened to me because they haven't seen me in such a long time. Depending on his humor of the moment, sometimes Charles tells them that I can't come outside because he keeps me chained to my computer---but that isn't true. He lets me get up once in a while.
Roberta Gellis
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Richly written historical romance,
By
This review is from: The English Heiress (The Heiress Series: Book One) (Mass Market Paperback)
Half-French and half-English, Leonie de Conyers is caught in France during the Revolution. Her father murdered and she brutalized by rebel soldiers, she is saved however, by Englishman Roger St. Eyre, who was sent to find Leonie and her father when the man inherits a title and an estate. But the violence catches up with them and Roger and Leonie are forced to remain in Paris under the pretense of siding with the Revolution. In the process, they become lovers, and then their position is compromised when they are swept away in a plot to free Marie Antoinette. In The English Heiress, Gellis bring the French Revolution to life in all its glory. I was on pins and needles throughout the entire book for the setting was utilized to a degree where it could have been possible for Roger and Leonie to be caught out and guillotined. The relationship between the two leads is fascinating as Leonie, despite her past, is strong and independent, which leads to much clashing of personalities between she and Roger. Forever on the list of comfort reads, The English Heiress is a marvelous book.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Could not even finish this,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The English Heiress (Heiress, Book One) (Kindle Edition)
I don't get why people like this book. It was so tedious and boring to read. The first few chapters were OK, but it went downhill. The authors spent pages discussing someone's facial expression and how it might be interpreted. The main characters (who I actually felt were a bit boring and didn't have the best spark) were constantly misinterpreting what the other said or did, which is normal in a romance, but then they would go on for paragraph after paragraph about what they might be misunderstanding, whether they were wrong or right blah blah blah. IN addition, I like a accurate history in novels but this was so detailed it became confusing and ditracted from the main plotline.I got about 50% of the way through and felt I shoudl have been building to a climax in the story - but no, there was still half a book to go. I started skimming before I hit 75% before I couldn't take it. I skipped to the end just to reassure myself of the HEA and then promptly deleted the book. Sorry but I can't recommend this.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still a wonderful book. Great is you like history with your romance.,
By Lisa K. Chance "LKC55" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The English Heiress (Heiress, Book One) (Kindle Edition)
This book is one of my favorite historical romance stories of all time. It has jostled from my number one, above all others, only occassionally since I first read it in the 1980's. I love both the hero and heroine. Roger is not the typical rake needing reforming, he is a man who - after an emotionally abusive relationship with his first wife - doesn't realize what a wonderful hero he is. He is not all that dark and brooding (though I love those type too), he is just you're average handsome, intelligent, English gentleman. Ok, he broods a little, but mostly over fearing he is not worthy of Leonie and how to get them out of the mess they are in. Best of all, Leonie is a heroine that can hold her own alongside him. I love the setting, that they are trapped in Napoleonic war torn France with no way to marry, yet living as a married couple (with a sexual relationship - he's not that insanely, unrealistically honorable!). I like the way Gellis lets the reader into the characters' thoughts. The ending is the laugh out loud funny, sweet, and totally in character for both the h&h. There is another scene where Leonie makes Roger mad (he never seems to loose his temper) and the resultant sex is explosive.Spoiler Alert: For the longest time this was the only book in which I ever approved of a rape scene (I like my heroine's pure). The act itself, for anyone who has read anything about rape, is one of power and hate, not lust. This fact is reinforced by Marot, the villian, looking at Leonie's father, helpless to intervene, not Leonie while he deflies her. For Leonie, this act is creates not a tragic victim, but a stronger person who truly rises above it to become a survivor; at the same time, when confronted with the villain again, she can summon her own emotions in a controlled manner to seek vengeance against the man who symbolized the destruction of her world. It's believable. One complaint: What happened to the little dog that is such an indispensible part of the story?
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