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3 internautes sur 4 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
3.0étoiles sur 5
Not Ms Beverley's Best!, Mai 1 2004
"An Arranged Marriage" is one of Ms Beverley's earlier works, being first published in 1991, and it is also the first in the "Company of Rogues" series, set in Regency England. There are two major problems with this work: the first is that it is almost entirely told from the point of view of the heroine, Eleanor Chivenham, who is pregnant and housebound during most of the book. The most exciting elements, the adventures of the hero Nicholas Delany, happen offstage and are related to the reader by Nicholas at the conclusion of the narrative. The second major problem is that the book opens with the rape of the virginal heroine by Nicholas' brother, who arranges for Nicholas to marry Eleanor, hence the title of the book. Eleanor's reaction to the rape is surprising: she displays about the same level of emotion as if her bottom had been pinched! Even though the author had Eleanor considering throwing herself in the river this reader at least never felt her distress. She is far too understanding and pragmatic, even given the time period and her unhappy family background. I had a lesser problem with the fact that Nicholas kept up an affair after the marriage to Eleanor, as it made sense on several levels: Nicholas had been spying on the suspected Bonapartist for months before he wed Eleanor, his marriage was not a love match in the beginning, and, as another reviewer pointed out, it was not unusual for men of his station to keep a mistress after marriage. However, for some more traditionally minded romance readers this was a major concern, as it went against the conventions of romance writing -- for me that was a bonus, but I didn't feel it was handled as well as it could have been in this book. Again, I think it was a problem of things being related to us mostly after the fact.
I have read some of the Company of Rogues series out of order, and in my opinion "An Arranged Marriage" is one of the weaker books. While I believe that Ms Beverley is one of today's outstanding writers of Regency and Georgian romances, mysteries are not her strong suit, and the longer Regency novels seem to "require" that there be a mystery. However, her later books are much better as: 1)she alternates point of view and 2)does not merely relate the most exciting parts of the story but actually makes the reader into a participant. This book is a must-read if you are going to complete the entire Compnay of Rogue series, and while IMO it is flawed, it is still a good introduction to the other characters in the "Company."
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de Jo Beverley
de Jo Beverley
de Jo Beverley
