Palace of the Pomegranate

by Violet Winspear

Forces of destiny drew them together.

On the face of it, Grace Wilde had everything—youth, beauty, wealth and a title. All she lacked was happiness.

She had been coerced into a loveless marriage with the uncaring, unfaithful Tony Wilde. And then, on an expedition into the Persian desert, she fell into the hands of another man, Kharim Khan, who was different from any other man she had met.

Would he succeed in melting the ice that was Grace's heart? And even if he did, how could she ever hope to be of any importance to him?

Genres: Harlequin Presents, Historical

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Violet Winspear was a British author renowned for her prolific output of romance novels, publishing seventy titles with Mills & Boon between 1961 and 1987. In 1973, she became a launch author for the Mills & Boon-Harlequin Presents line, known for its more sexually explicit content, alongside Anne Mather and Anne Hampson, two of the most popular and prolific British romance writers of the time. Winspear began writing while working in a factory and became a full-time novelist in 1963, producing her works from her home in South East England, researching exotic settings at her local library. She famously described her heroes as lean, strong, and captivating, “in need of love but capable of breathtaking passion and potency,” a characterization that provoked controversy in 1970 when she stated that her male protagonists were “capable of rape,” leading to considerable public backlash. Her novels are celebrated for their vivid, globe-spanning settings and dramatic tension, often employing sexual antagonism to heighten conflict between the alpha male hero and the heroine, who is frequently portrayed as naïve or overwhelmed by his dominance. Winspear never married or had children, and she passed away in January 1989 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a lasting influence on the romance genre.

Reviews

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

One the fascinating things about reading vintage romances is the picture of a long forgotten world. Set in Persia/Iran in 1974 before the Iranian Revolution, it stars British toffee heiress Grace Tillerton, recently Lady Wilde through a marriage of convenience forced on her by her autocratic grandfather who wanted a title in the family.

Tony Wilde is wild in nature, flagrantly unfaithful and resentful of Grace's cool disdain. When they go on an expedition to find the Garden of Sheba in the Persian desert, rumours abound that Tony might find a way to ensure she doesn't come back.

Guided by the enigmatic Kharim Khan they venture into the desert only to meet with disaster through Grace's wilful pride and anger at Tony's behaviour.

Kharim Khan is revealed as so much more than a simple guide and their journey through the desert with his tribe becomes a journey of the heart for cold Grace who has never known love and affection.

I love this story and have read it more than once in the past. A classic sheikh tale, Winspear manages to imbue it with a strange sense of reality in spite of the fantastic nature of the story.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on my past reading experiences with this author, I was not expecting such an unlikable shrew of a heroine. She made a book with a very promising plot a chore to read. These two did a lot of talking but that didn’t result in much amorous action. I’m still giving it 3 stars because I’m really amazed at the richness of the plot in so few pages.

[RomLibrary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forces of destiny drew them together.

On the face of it, Grace Wilde had everything—youth, beauty, wealth and a title. All she lacked was happiness.

She had been coerced into a loveless marriage with the uncaring, unfaithful Tony Wilde. And then, on an expedition into the Persian desert, she fell into the hands of another man, Kharim Khan, who was different from any other man she had met.

Would he succeed in melting the ice that was Grace's heart? And even if he did, how could she ever hope to be of any importance to him?

[Gege86 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most disappointing ending that I ever read. The MCs didn't say a single word to each other just kissed like that would solve all of their issues. Never did I read a more disappointing novel. Read it at your own risk!

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bad. Grace is spoiled, cold and boring. There is no love, and no sex; 98% is Grace being a brat. She essentially murders her husband and then a horse because she's so awful.

Do not read this. You will never get those precious hours back.

[Bea Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

So-so to low, maybe a 2.5. It's a slow, sloggy book that takes an absolute age for the H to even show up and after that huge stonking swathes of the book consist solely of 'look how exotic, wild and savage all this foreign stuff is'. We get endless descriptions of the desert, of tents and rugs and seriously there are like 4 separate bath scenes in this book.

The h hard to like. She's way over the top with 'don't touch me, I hate you, I haaate you you brute, you beast, you animal' (queue lots of foot stamping, beating of fists, enraged looks, and thrown insults) and it goes on for so long and to such a degree that when she 'realizes she loves him' about three pages from the end I snorted so hard my sinus hurt.

No proper HEA either, no love declaration from him, just them having a hug. Weird, as though VW isn't exactly graphic we normally get a sex scene.

Also had to laugh when we find out, at the very end, the H is half English. VW always does this, as though she can't quite bring herself to have her heroines fall in love with a full on brown dude... gotta have that measure of whiteness added for who-the-frick knows what reason.

[Marwah .Qoura · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is Violet Winspear so I don't need to elaborate much more but ...I am an Arab - Egyptian to be specific- and this book though greatly researched had grave mistakes about the Persian /Arabian culture as usual which are very close but not the same at all ...The word Lella (like Donna or Lady ) is used only in Morroco!.. the right word should be Khanum , so was most of the style of garments like haik and bournous mentioned in the story ,also the use of the French language , though the food and beverage mentioned and everything else was spot on Persian ..even the few Arabic words used ..Also Khamsin is strictly exclusive to Egypt ..But a great book to enjoy à la VW unique intellectual style .I loved the H Kharim , but the h was a ninny you would like to hate .

[Myrna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She knew , held close in his arms, kissed until the heavens whirled around her, that he would defy Persian convention and make her his wife, taking upon himself a bride of his heart."

Pretty chaste.
The ending is rather abrupt. I wanted more words in the end.
The heiress travels to Persia with her titled husband. The guide hired to escort them to the desert appears to be the khan.

I must confess the heroine isn't likable. She behaves awfully for the most part of the book. The husband and the horse come to mind. And she isn't very nice to the servants.
The hero is pretty tame for Winspear. Although there is that incident with the whip.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setting is interesting, and the hero somewhat passionate, but it is difficult to root for the heroine as she is quite annoying with her sniping comments and lack of charm. As another reviewer mentioned, the ending is unsatisfactory - I might have upped it to 4 stars with a proper resolution as it backdrop was very enjoyable.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Booring... too much descriptions of the setting and persons the story ends so abruptly and content very shallow

[تَالآ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why only two stars?
I also don’t know