Customer Reviews

Heritage of Shadows

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4 star:		(2)
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This was a very suspenseful and adventurous story set during the turn of the last century that never bores you for even a second. The heroine suffers a very harsh tragedy through her teens and then is able to escape her circumstances and start anew, free although poor. Her positive attitude keeps the reader positive as you nervously follow her adventures and friendships through England, France and Mexico. With Brent's stories you never know what's going to happen next. I mean not a clue! There are no sex scenes in this or any of her other novels I read, but there is always a strong yet subtle sexual element in the heroine's character. In this particular story, the heroine's sexual experience is very important yet is revealed slowly and indirectly. There is no vulgarity in any of the writer's words yet the harshness is amply conveyed. Brent is one of the most skilled romance novelists I have ever read.

Hannah MacLeod is happy living her life as a poor waitress in Montmartre. She has a good friend, Toby, who likes to paint pictures of her. Suddenly, her life is turned upside down when she saves a wealthy American, but fears the police are after her. She accepts employment with a mysterious Englishman, who is not what he seems. When Hannah's past is exposed, her life is thrown into tumult. A very good read, though not as good as Brent's other novels.

as are all tales of Madeleine Brent. The story is presented in increments, slowly revealing secrets of the past in proper doses to be acceptable to the reader. Parts of the story are distasteful in the extreme, but some of the characters are beautiful and inspiring.

If you are fortunate enough to find this book, you'll get to meet Hannah McLeod, the Butterfly Girl, as well as her artist friend, Toby Kent, and many other interesting characters, both good and bad.

The story follows young Hannah MacLeod who has lived more life in her eighteen years than most have by the time they're fifty. When the tale opens she is working twelve hours a day at a small bistro in Montmartre, living in a one-room apartment that ranks just above a garret, and is pleased as punch to be doing so. Her perplexing attitude is explained through the hinting of some horror in her past which led to her fleeing her native England for Paris and the comforting anonymity of her current life. She has no family and only one friend, one Toby Kent, a boisterous sailor/impressionist painter who is gone for months at a time but when he's in town provides some companionship and a nice dinner or two. In return for this, Hannah cleans his clothes and sits for the occasional portrait.

Unfortunately for Hannah and, as any suspense novel reader knows, self possessed but mysteriously haunted young women of independent means can never outrun their past for long. Events overtake Hannah and she is forced to return to England in an attempt to avoid disaster. She takes refuge teaching French to a rich merchant's two teenage children. The rich merchant, however, seems to know of her past and soon Hannah is caught up in a play for power and revenge that stretches back for decades and somehow involves her. Eventually we learn just exactly how heavily Hannah paid for her self possession and how much more she is forced to pay the demons that haunt her.

This book was like popping a particularly fine piece of foreign chocolate in your mouth. The layers that emerge, one on top of another, alternately surprise and delight you. I felt very protective of and close to Hannah and any scene Toby was in made me laugh. Which was a good thing because Hannah's story ended up being much darker than I was expecting and the moments of humor were much appreciated. A sweet, enjoyable read. I went back to the library today and got two more Brent books.

This book is very good. It has a strong heroine and an entertaing plot, however it is not Madeline Brent's best work. If you like "A Heritage of Shadows" give "The Long Masquerade" a try. She's one of my favorite writers