Perfect Love [Paperback]

Elizabeth Buchan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2003

How far would she go for the Perfect Love?

Many things can disrupt a long-time marriage. Prue Valour, 41, has spent her adulthood keeping house, making meals for her older husband, Max, and being a mother to their preadolescent daughter. Despite the comforts of life in their small English village, a vague discontent nags at Prue. But change is set in motion with the return of Max's petulant, icily beautiful daughter Violet. Moving in with her new baby and husband, Violet is as hateful to her step-mother Prue as she had been as a child. Worse, Violet resents her fretful baby. But Violet's husband Jamie is unexpectedly helpful, likeable, and caring. Drawn to each other, he and Prue are soon skirting a boundary between innocence and passion. But will Prue take that irrevocable step across?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The often stifling responsibilities of marriage and family life and the lure and complications of adultery are subtly and movingly explored by British author Buchan (Consider the Lily). Prue Valour, 41, is contentedly married to 60-year-old Max, and has spent the last several years nesting, raising their preadolescent daughter Jane and participating in village affairs while working on a biography of Joan of Arc. Discord enters in the person of Max's hateful daughter, Violet, who has never accepted Prue as her stepmother, and who is returning from the States to England with a baby she doesn't much like and a husband, Jamie Beckett, whom she dominates. Jamie, who finds his icy, career-obsessed wife inscrutable, is drawn to demure Prue (who is his own age) and initiates an affair. For Prue, this illicit passion is irresistible, especially since she has never experienced such erotic satisfaction. Initially, Violet and Max don't quite realize what's going on, though they note signs of trouble. Meanwhile, the Becketts' faithful and hardworking nanny, Emmy, has her own relationship problems and unplanned pregnancy. Buchan writes pitch-perfect scenes of domestic bickering, and her descriptions of illicit sexual desire ring poignant and true. The conceit of Joan of Arc's life as a parallel to Prue's is labored, but what does work is the psychologically accurate rendering of the way duty and familial love sometimes seem to become stifling cages. This often witty, insightful portrait of passion, trauma and heartache sweeps to a dramatic conclusion in which an anguished Prue realizes that "demons take up residence in the wronged." In the end, Buchan avoids sentimentality and easy answers to offer a candid assessment of how one goes on with life and marriage after the passion is past. (July) FYI: Buchan's Consider the Lily was named 1994's Romantic Novelists' Association Novel of the Year in England, and has sold over 300,000 copies in the U.K.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the uneasy role of a young bride encountering a new stepdaughter, Prue, now married 20 years, has never gotten along with Violet^-still insolent at 27. The awkward blend of Violet's new husband and son and Prue's family has explosive results. Prior to meeting Violet's husband, Jamie, meek and obedient Prue's only passion had been Joan of Arc. She is researching and writing Joan's biography. In her relationship with Jamie, she is torn between meaningful love and family loyalty. The novel alternates between Prue's narrative and her research of Joan's life. Prue takes strength from Joan and sees similarities in both of their lives. In the no-win situation of loving a son-in-law, Buchan understands the complexity of the story, and crafts a response that is intense and in tune with the many layers of relationships. Moralistic, perhaps; realistic, definitely. Ellie Barta-Moran --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (July 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324642
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324643
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,344,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, engaging, September 19, 2002

By 

MrsMorland (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PERFECT LOVE (Mass Market Paperback)

Having tried and failed to finish Consider the Lily, the book written by Buchan just before Perfect Love, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story full of engaging characters. Buchan is a talented writer, and her descriptive powers are demonstarted in both books, but Consider the Lily is depressing, with no characters to capture the reader's sympathies. This book reminded me of Joanna Trollope more than Rosamund Pilcher, but readers of either will enjoy this story. I look forward now to reading Ms. Buchan's later books.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, October 18, 2000

By 

Wendy Kaplan (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PERFECT LOVE (Mass Market Paperback)

Fans of Joanna Trollope will love this book. It has the same understated yet highly evocative approach that the best British female authors seem to employ with ease. I found myself subtly but firmly drawn into the life of our heroine, Prue, to the point where I could almost feel her thoughts. We meet her somewhat aloof older husband, Max, her lovely daughter Jane (whose reaction to her dying pet rat will wring the heart of any mother), her horrid stepdaughter Violet, who hates her own baby, and Violet's charming husband Jamie. There is also Violet's naive yet streetwise erstwhile nanny, Emmy. All of these people are woven into Prue's daily life whether she wants it or not, as she struggles to write a book on her obsession, Joan of Arc! The quiet, understated humor, pathos, sympathy and sheer fine writing of this book make me want to read everything Buchan has written. I highly recommend this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Chic-Lit, September 28, 2005

By 

Ciaramine "ciaramine" (Barrington Hills, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Perfect Love (Paperback)

A sophisticated look at marriage and the compromises one makes. Family secrets, entanglements and the possibilities of second chances are explored, but in the end character wins out. This is a thoughtful contribution to women's literature.