Fire Song [Paperback]

Roberta Gellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1984

Blush: This is a sensual romance (may have explicit love scenes, but not erotic level) Third in the Royal Dynasty series. Fenice d’Aix and Aubery of Ilmer both had unhappy first marriages. Both had guilty secrets related to those marriages, but each found in the other what had been lacking in their first union. Each longed for the passionate love offered by their new partners. Nonetheless, neither dared expose their hidden secrets lest they lose everything. The hidden deceptions make Aubery’s political duties more hazardous. Having failed twice in his attempts to kill Aubery, an old enemy decides to violate and then murder Fenice as his only fit revenge. Fenice’s abduction makes truth a necessity between Fenice and Aubery. But it is not until he loses Fenice that Aubery’s pride bends enough to allow him to declare his love…almost too late. Publisher’s Note: This book was previously published in 1984.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Jove; First Edition edition (April 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515075299
• ISBN-13: 978-0515075298
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,629,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars incomparable Gellis fare, January 31, 2009

By 

M. Dinel "Lady Word" (burlington, vt) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Song (Paperback)

Seeing only one review of this lovely story, I was compelled to add another. Roberta Gellis has been one (of only 3) of my favorite authors for more decades than I will ever admit.

Fire Song is the third in a group (not really a series, since each stands alone)of novels set in France and England of the 13th century during the reign of Henry III. Once again, Gellis gives us a completely admirable, strong heroine who is nonetheless, utterly feminine. True to the hallmark of Gellis' literary method, which is to interweave fictional members of the upper gentry into the lives and events of real royalty in a turbulent period of history, this is the tale of Aubery of Illmer, the son of Elizabeth (of Marlowe, in Siren Song), and Fenice, "natural" (illegitimate) daughter of Raymond d'Aix (hero of Winter Song). Aubery and Fenice are recently the widow[er]s of fatally flawed spouses. Fire Song is the tale of their growing attraction, occasional misunderstandings, dangerous adventures and ultimate love.

The couple are contracted to marry by the arrangement of their respective parents, whose intentions are to form a family alliance, transfer property, and to encourage their beloved offspring to move on from their previous, unhappy and unsuccessful relationships. As the story unfolds against a backdrop of medieval history, Fenice struggles with her feelings of inferiority, unworthiness, and a crippling timidity, and Aubery battles to overcome his own sense of failure, inadequacy as a lover, and deep sexual inhibitions that he simultaneously loathes yet clings to---a remnant of his unhappy relationship with his first wife. Indeed, Fenice's sexual experience (that being the only thing not lacking in her first marriage) and eagerness in the bedroom cause some rather amusing reactions in her new spouse.

Their adventures together are both exciting and entertaining, and as always with Gellis' novels, the reader learns quite a bit of real history in the process. The book is well worth reading if only for the priceless, terse and pointed lecture delivered by Aubery's step-father, William, to Aubery, upon hearing his complaint against Fenice. She has successfully executed a truly selfless and heroic plan to rescue her new husband from a band of unsavory town officials, but in the process, has offended Aubery's inflexible ideal of frail, delicate womanhood. Aubery's resultant capitulation and humble apologies to his gem of a wife make for a delicious denouement. Fans of Ms. Gellis' work will not be disapointed.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another good Gellis, February 17, 2009

By 

jk "Jodi" (INusa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire Song (Paperback)

I've been reading her since I was a teenager and I ended up giving this one away. Now I want it again. I like her romances because they give you alot more history than many other types. You can get a good sense of general history just by reading Roberta Gellis.

This story, like her others, is more 'sensible' and deals with adult issues that plague all of us. Problems of self-worth, confidence, and doubt rattle Auburey and Fenice. They're a sweet couple, though; if examples of the time they live in. He's all masculine male, she the lady of the manor. A satisfying, realistic read with romance. You see Auburey again in the Roselynde books, I think, but he's much older.

Read Roberta ...I really like her for a solid, sensible romance. (She also does some good sci/fi too, though -and mystery.)

12 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent pick-me-up when your're down in the dumps!, October 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fire Song (Paperback)

A favorite of mine. I've read it many times over the years. It is a book that gives hope and leads one to realize that there are always options out there, even in the toughest of times.

The heroine is a young lady in times when women had few rights. The book follows her growth from a timid girl to an imaginative woman that we can admire.

Roberta Gellis's book Fire Song is filled with pathos and hope, laughter and humour. She takes us on a journey of discovery of ourselves and how we appear to others, and how we see others.

I definitely recommend this book.