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4.0 out of 5 stars
Warning, a very political Wolf.., September 5, 2001
Like A DIFFICULT TRUCE (full of Anglo-Irish relations at the turn of the century), this book is filled with the Venezuelan war for liberation - later to become a South American war for liberation under Simon Bolivar. Margarita, the heroine, is a cousin of Bolivar, and nearly all her family perish in the struggle. Furthermore, the fate of her country and her people are constantly in Margarita's thoughts. If you prefer a lighter book (without such real-life references) this might not be the Wolf, or indeed the book, for you.
The plot is not that complicated: the orphaned Margarita arrives in England to live with her maternal grandfather. He dies suddenly, leaving the new heir (his nephew of the half blood) to deal with his complicated estate and his granddaughter. The old earl has beggared his lands to build up a magnificent art collection, in part to revenge himself against his heir (whose parents he disliked), and perhaps in part for other reasons. At his death, the new earl Nicholas discovers that to gain possession of the art collection (and thus to obtain money to restore the family lands to good health), he must marry the young granddaughter. Margarita is penniless and has no other relations. She has no choice in the matter, if she is not to fall completely on the new earl's mercy. The couple are married almost immediately.
Herein lies the problem. In the past two years, Margarita has witnessed the deaths of all those she held dear - from her English-born mother and one of her four brothers in an earthquake to her remaining three brothers and father during the unsuccessful revolt against the Spanish government. She has witnessed the horrors of war close at hand, been transported to a different country (where she feels cold all the time) and then had her only remaining close relative die in a carriage accident. Her feelings and emotions are frozen; she simply feels numb. Furthermore, she realizes that the new earl, now her husband, did not want to marry her and sees her as an intruder. But they have a normal (read, physical) relationship for all that.
Her inability to respond physically or emotionally to her husband frustrates him. He returns to his mistress - one in the country, another in town. [It is not often that authors portray adulterous husbands as heroes]. Nicholas's own emotional development has been warped by his difficult childhood, during which his mother ran away with another man. Since then, he has provided for his mother but has refused to meet her. He will not acknowledge that he needs love or that he can need or love a woman.
Margarita eventually learns to respond to him, but only after she has given birth to their son. She realizes that she loves Nicholas, but he rejects that love - and turns to other women. At some point, Margarita realizes that he has been unfaithful to her, not just during her pregnancy but after the birth of their son. She is unable to cope with this knowledge, and with the fact that Nicholas can make sexual demands upon her. She runs away - taking her baby son - and finds refuge with Nicholas's mother...
I liked this book principally for the portrayal of Margarita, a very young and very sheltered 17 year old, pitchforked into a marriage with a stranger at a very difficult time in her life. The portrayal of the early years of their marriage is beautifully done, as is Margarita's slowly growing confidence and self-assurance (only after she has become a mother). I could also sympathize with Nicholas, as the young boy who rejected all love after his mother left him, and who tried to prove his independence by flagrant affairs - even though he hurt his wife in the process. [By the way, the blurb on the back is wrong as usual - Margarita's anger with her husband is expressed privately, not publicly and openly].
Reading this book is a nice contrast to a far more independent and self-assured heroine Juana Smith in Heyer's THE SPANISH BRIDE. While I confess to liking Juana far better, I do understand Margarita's position.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Some actual history in this historical romance, June 19, 2011
If you hate adultery in romance....keep far,far away from this book.
If you dislike a lot of real-life history/political integration in your romance or prefer more wallpaper history...again...just leave it alone.
However, if the two things above are not deal breakers for you, you may just find that this book is well written and worth the time to read.
Margarita is the granddaughter of the Earl of Winslow. However she had never known the earl because his daughter, Margarita's mother, married a Venezuelan aristocrat and they never spoke again.
But as the book begins, it is a time of incredible unrest in Venezuela. It is a time of bloody liberation, the time of Simon Bolivar. During the struggle for independence from Spain, Margarita's family -- her mother, her five brothers and her father -- all one by one perish in the unrest. She is left alone and penniless just saved from rape and torture and is sent for by her grandfather to come to England.
But when Margarita arrives, her grandfather dies suddenly leaving a will that all but blackmails a marriage between Margarita and his despised heir, Nicholas.
Nicholas is obscenely handsome and a ladie's man. But all he really wants to do is restore his earldom to it's former glory. He can only do that by marrying Margarita. So the two enter into a marriage of convenience. He because it is the only way he can get the money he needs to husband the estate, she because she has no other recourse.
Over time the two settle into marriage, Margarita slowly comes to life and realize she loves her husband. But it takes Nicholas a little longer to let go of his old ways.
I actually enjoyed reading this book because I felt it worked on many levels.
First and foremost this is decidedly not a wallpaper regency romance. The unrest in South America is given prominence in the beginning of the book because we are kept abreast of the tragic happenings of what is going on with Margarita's family. And after she arrives in England, even though she is deeply in the throes of some serious PTSD, she is steadfastly fierce in her belief in the liberation of her country and in the man Bolivar. She keeps herself informed of the goings on.
Also the author does a great job of showing that Margarita is only English in her genetics. When Margarita speaks it is with the formality of one whose native tongue is not English. She doesn't play the piano or the pianoforte, she plays the guitar. She sings and speaks Spanish and sometimes she 'loses the english' when she is upset. She is also catholic, a young woman who was brought up very differently and even more sheltered than many English women. This fact is of major significance in the book.
It would be so easy to condemn Nicholas for his infidelity, but I actually think the author laid the groundwork for that very logically and it makes sense in the context of the story.
When Margarita and Nicholas marry she was reeling from not just one but Six incredible losses in her life. Added to that she is forced to marry this guy she's just clapped eyes on. Added to that, she's a naive virgin with negative clue about anything having to do with sex. She isn't very responsive. She has no one, no woman to teach her about what to expect with a husband -- how to act, how to understand sex, how to read the cues.
Nicholas just figures she's frigid and uninterested. While he begins to actually like her and enjoys spending time with her, he figures she just doesn't like sex so he leaves her alone thinking he was being kind. Sure, in another romance novel Nicholas would have been all tender and brought her to a screaming orgasm despite all the stuff I mention above. But I am glad that didn't happen. I actually liked that for all his vaunted Super Sexy Sexxing history, Nicholas seemed a little clueless about sex himself when it comes to Margarita.
Of course when Margarita does begin to notice her husband after her grieving is done she doesn't know what to do with him and has no one to talk to. And Nicholas does feel guilt but he also feels denial. For all that he is a man of confidence Nicholas is dealing with his own abandonment issues. He actually fights his feelings for Margarita until he can;t any longer.
I really enjoyed the progression of the romance and the marriage in the book. I think the story makes sense. I liked the dirty reality of it all. I also like that for all her naivete, Margarita is a survivor and as Nicholas rightly notices, has a spine of pure steel. In her own way she begins to bend her husband to her will.
This book reminded me of another Joan Wolf book American Duchess which inserted and used the political history of the time effectively as well as looking at the way a marriage evolved and love grew with a couple.
I'd recommend both
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