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A Widow in Waiting
Who killed Alfred de Maine, Lord Farnton? Highwaymen on the backroads of Ireland, as his pretty widow Eleanor claims? One of the traveling folk camped near the tiny village of Glenscar, where Eleanor fled in fear that day? A resident of Glenscar itself, trying to protect the village's hidden power? Or did John Marlowe, the horse-breeder son of Glenscar's squire, kill the lord to win the lady? Eleanor knows the truth, but she also knows the value of a secret. Her own greatest desire, to marry John as soon as her six months of mourning are over, will be obtainable only so long as it remains unknown. Along the way, she must master her magic of moving, untangle her new friends' romantic complications, and use heart and head in tandem to decide which stories to believe. Will love and patience win the day, and Eleanor join hands with John at last? Or will she remain, forever, a Widow in Waiting? Welcome to a world where magic lives in the quiet moments of the everyday, and where rich and poor, settled and wanderers, might have more in common than they dream. Welcome to the Chronicles of Glenscar.
621 pages, ebook
First published June 11, 2012
3 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Anne B. Walsh
32 books42 followersAnne B. Walsh has been telling stories from the time she could talk, but it took her twenty years to realize she could make a living at it. She left her office job on a leap of faith two months before seeing a PBS special which changed her life. The resulting four-book series of historical fantasy romances is known collectively as the Chronicles of Glenscar (or will be, when it involves more than one book!).
Anne lives east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her roommate Krystal. They are owned by a pair of needy, and kneady, cats named Poppy and Sesame. Her parents and siblings live two hours north, otherwise known as just far enough away.
She has been writing Harry Potter fan fiction for almost eight years and is known best in that genre as the creator of the "Dangerverse" alternate universe. Beyond writing fiction, Anne's preoccupations include reading fiction; singing anywhere that will have her, including her church and local galas; theatre, especially musicals; all forms of cooking; and her family and friends.
Within writing fiction, her preoccupations are much the same, meaning most of her stories involve loving families, delicious food, and good music. Consider yourself warned.
A number of projects are awaiting Anne's attention now that she has completed her first original novel. Among these are the final novel-length work in the Dangerverse, "Surpassing Danger", and her first personal anthology, "Cat Tales", a collection of short fiction featuring cats and cat-like beings, including a short prequel to "A Widow in Waiting" and a story from her original Trycanta universe.
Anne lives east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her roommate Krystal. They are owned by a pair of needy, and kneady, cats named Poppy and Sesame. Her parents and siblings live two hours north, otherwise known as just far enough away.
She has been writing Harry Potter fan fiction for almost eight years and is known best in that genre as the creator of the "Dangerverse" alternate universe. Beyond writing fiction, Anne's preoccupations include reading fiction; singing anywhere that will have her, including her church and local galas; theatre, especially musicals; all forms of cooking; and her family and friends.
Within writing fiction, her preoccupations are much the same, meaning most of her stories involve loving families, delicious food, and good music. Consider yourself warned.
A number of projects are awaiting Anne's attention now that she has completed her first original novel. Among these are the final novel-length work in the Dangerverse, "Surpassing Danger", and her first personal anthology, "Cat Tales", a collection of short fiction featuring cats and cat-like beings, including a short prequel to "A Widow in Waiting" and a story from her original Trycanta universe.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 15, 2014
I've been a fan of this author's fan-fiction for some time, so I approached this work of her original fiction with confidence that I was going to get likeable characters in an entertaining story. And I was not disappointed.
Eleanor, known as Nora or Noreen, is recently widowed under mysterious circumstances - but those circumstances include a handsome young man... The obvious answer is, of course, not the truth, and off the story goes, juggling Nora, her lovely John (or Seán), both of their families, and assorted friends, enemies, and others, as Nora and John try to get together, others try to prevent them, and the true story of how Nora was widowed is gradually revealed.
The book does have a couple of flaws that drag it down from a 4-star to a 3-star rating. First is the setting - it's the 1780s in England and Ireland...so we're told. But I found very little sense of time or place; the events could really have been happening anywhen and anywhere. (Though on the plus side, there were no egregious errors either - and as an Irishwoman with a strong interest in the Georgian era, I'd have noticed!)
The second flaw is in the structure; the author seems to have been trying for a similar structure to that used by Barbara Hambly in Sorcerer's Ward, where the back-story is told in flashbacks interspersed amongst the "current" events. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite come off in this book; I had more the feeling that I was reading the second installment of a series that I hadn't seen the first volume of, despite the flashbacks filling in the blanks.
Still, for all that, it's an engaging tale of love and magic, with a cool nod to Georgette Heyer's The Masqueraders and a bunch of fun characters. It's billed as the first of a series, and I'll be buying the next.
Eleanor, known as Nora or Noreen, is recently widowed under mysterious circumstances - but those circumstances include a handsome young man... The obvious answer is, of course, not the truth, and off the story goes, juggling Nora, her lovely John (or Seán), both of their families, and assorted friends, enemies, and others, as Nora and John try to get together, others try to prevent them, and the true story of how Nora was widowed is gradually revealed.
The book does have a couple of flaws that drag it down from a 4-star to a 3-star rating. First is the setting - it's the 1780s in England and Ireland...so we're told. But I found very little sense of time or place; the events could really have been happening anywhen and anywhere. (Though on the plus side, there were no egregious errors either - and as an Irishwoman with a strong interest in the Georgian era, I'd have noticed!)
The second flaw is in the structure; the author seems to have been trying for a similar structure to that used by Barbara Hambly in Sorcerer's Ward, where the back-story is told in flashbacks interspersed amongst the "current" events. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite come off in this book; I had more the feeling that I was reading the second installment of a series that I hadn't seen the first volume of, despite the flashbacks filling in the blanks.
Still, for all that, it's an engaging tale of love and magic, with a cool nod to Georgette Heyer's The Masqueraders and a bunch of fun characters. It's billed as the first of a series, and I'll be buying the next.
February 21, 2018
I absolutely loved this book.
The magic was fascinating, but the characters were even more so. I cannot choose a favorite among them, for they all felt so real. John/Sean and Eleanor and Grace and Thunder and Shadow and Nevan and Keiran and everyone.
I was expecting one romance in this book, not the beautiful bits of many I got. And they were the sweet kinds of romance that I love for the most part. Some had more excitement, but that is needed.
I really don't know much about the era this is set in, but Glenscar, and Edwin Marlowe's education of his tenants intrigued me. It sounds like a place I would like to live, magic of my own or not.
Unless of course, I choose to join the Warbirds/travellers/gypsies. I loved them. Their development throughout the story is masterful.
The ending of the story wrapped up nicely, yet left me with a bunch of exciting questions, the biggest of which is: When is the sequel coming out?
The magic was fascinating, but the characters were even more so. I cannot choose a favorite among them, for they all felt so real. John/Sean and Eleanor and Grace and Thunder and Shadow and Nevan and Keiran and everyone.
I was expecting one romance in this book, not the beautiful bits of many I got. And they were the sweet kinds of romance that I love for the most part. Some had more excitement, but that is needed.
I really don't know much about the era this is set in, but Glenscar, and Edwin Marlowe's education of his tenants intrigued me. It sounds like a place I would like to live, magic of my own or not.
Unless of course, I choose to join the Warbirds/travellers/gypsies. I loved them. Their development throughout the story is masterful.
The ending of the story wrapped up nicely, yet left me with a bunch of exciting questions, the biggest of which is: When is the sequel coming out?
December 30, 2024
3.75--a good story overall, but suffered from something I don't think I've ever seen before and can only attempt to describe as a well-meant over-abundance of in medias res? to the point where characters would refer to an incident or a person in such familiar, brief terms that it both felt natural--like, something a real person would do in the course of their speech or thoughts--and made me question "wait we as readers know Literally Nothing about that and we apparently aren't getting any explanations for perhaps chapters yet, is that...purposeful? did i miss something? i know i miss things but not This badly surely" so i spent quite a bit of my time particularly at the outset being very confused xD
December 10, 2012
Does magic exist? It certainly does in Anne Walsh’s A Widow in Waiting, a tome of an adventure that takes the reader from the upper echelons of society in England to the magical but humble hillsides of Ireland. For Eleanor (Noreen) de Maine, the titular widow whose husband, Lord Alfred, is mysteriously killed by a highwayman, wearing her mourning gown and putting on the face of a bereft lady is a small price to pay for being freed from the clutches of her manipulative husband (literally, for his power was manipulation). For John (Séan) Marlowe, resident of Glenscar, Ireland, Alfred’s death in his village allows him to finally meet the woman of his dreams (literally, for his power is dreaming about real people’s lives, including Eleanor’s). Six months is the minimum amount of time that Eleanor and John must wait for their union to be socially acceptable, but a lot can happen in half a year, and their love is certainly put to the test. A Widow in Waiting is the story of these months and the obstacles they must overcome—the least of which is a timely letter from an erstwhile resident of Glenscar to Eleanor’s father—until the can finally be together. If you love grand, sweeping regency tales (although, technically speaking, the 1780 setting predates the Regency period), small-community vignettes, and a large cast of quirky characters, then this story is surely for you!
Story & Pacing: 9
I waddled back and forth between giving this a grade of 8 or 9. The plot is easy to follow and successfully executed, but at 400+ pages, I feel that some parts of the six-month waiting period could have been compressed and/or possibly omitted, particularly some of the follies of Nevan and Kieran. Walsh’s descriptions of everything—from settings and characters to societal expectations—make you feel like you are dab smack in the middle of Jane Austen’s England.
Characters: 9
There are so many characters that I was definitely confused in the first 10 or so chapters, but once I resigned myself to understanding the major ones and that the minor ones would eventually become “obvious” to me, the long cast became bearable. In terms of the characters themselves, Eleanor is delightfully quick witted and sharp tongued; Annie is a sweet companion with a plethora of observances and one-liners that made me laugh out loud; and Cob is a loyal friend who observes more than he notes. You won’t find it difficult to find Walsh’s characters endearing.
Setting: 8
Walsh’s descriptions of the village of Glenscar provide enough scope for the imagination that you could almost feel like you were living on the coast of Ireland, too. Walsh has chosen excellent locales for her story of latent and hidden magical powers that feed of the nature of the area. You’ll want visit Ireland to feel the magic, too!
Style & Writing: 9
Walsh’s writing is elegant. She strives to maintain a tone that one would expect from historical pieces; there are elements of Jane Austen and Philippa Gregory in her voice, which, as a fan of both writers, is high praise. Her sentences are varied, but her syntax remains more modern than Georgian, two qualities that make her writing very easy to digest. I really enjoyed learning a bit of Irish along the way, too!
Learnability & Teachability: 8
If you want to read a period piece or just enjoy a richly developed book with a variety of themes and sub-plots, you’ll have no trouble getting into this one. It’s a long read, but for those who like to settle in for such a story, this one’s for you. There’s a list of characters, Irish words, and other juicy extras at the end of the novel. Much to my chagrin, I only did find them at the end of the story, but I think I would have found the information much more helpful at the beginning.
POTENTIAL TEACHABLES
Geography and history of England and Ireland; British Isles vs. UK vs. Great Britain vs. Britain vs. England; Georgian time period, especially social etiquette of the time; gypsies, travellers, and the like.
Story & Pacing: 9
I waddled back and forth between giving this a grade of 8 or 9. The plot is easy to follow and successfully executed, but at 400+ pages, I feel that some parts of the six-month waiting period could have been compressed and/or possibly omitted, particularly some of the follies of Nevan and Kieran. Walsh’s descriptions of everything—from settings and characters to societal expectations—make you feel like you are dab smack in the middle of Jane Austen’s England.
Characters: 9
There are so many characters that I was definitely confused in the first 10 or so chapters, but once I resigned myself to understanding the major ones and that the minor ones would eventually become “obvious” to me, the long cast became bearable. In terms of the characters themselves, Eleanor is delightfully quick witted and sharp tongued; Annie is a sweet companion with a plethora of observances and one-liners that made me laugh out loud; and Cob is a loyal friend who observes more than he notes. You won’t find it difficult to find Walsh’s characters endearing.
Setting: 8
Walsh’s descriptions of the village of Glenscar provide enough scope for the imagination that you could almost feel like you were living on the coast of Ireland, too. Walsh has chosen excellent locales for her story of latent and hidden magical powers that feed of the nature of the area. You’ll want visit Ireland to feel the magic, too!
Style & Writing: 9
Walsh’s writing is elegant. She strives to maintain a tone that one would expect from historical pieces; there are elements of Jane Austen and Philippa Gregory in her voice, which, as a fan of both writers, is high praise. Her sentences are varied, but her syntax remains more modern than Georgian, two qualities that make her writing very easy to digest. I really enjoyed learning a bit of Irish along the way, too!
Learnability & Teachability: 8
If you want to read a period piece or just enjoy a richly developed book with a variety of themes and sub-plots, you’ll have no trouble getting into this one. It’s a long read, but for those who like to settle in for such a story, this one’s for you. There’s a list of characters, Irish words, and other juicy extras at the end of the novel. Much to my chagrin, I only did find them at the end of the story, but I think I would have found the information much more helpful at the beginning.
POTENTIAL TEACHABLES
Geography and history of England and Ireland; British Isles vs. UK vs. Great Britain vs. Britain vs. England; Georgian time period, especially social etiquette of the time; gypsies, travellers, and the like.
January 5, 2016
I first heard about this book because the author has written some Harry Potter fanfic that I really love. I was willing to follow her into original fiction, and I’m glad I did.
One of the things I appreciate about well-done self-published fiction is the fact that authors have freedom to buck established formulas. A Widow in Waiting is a compelling romance, but it uses very few of the conventional romance trappings in the usual ways. Eleanor and John spend 90 percent of the book apart, having their own adventures, and yet I still found their romance compelling. Seeing the way they both dealt with other people in their lives—which is in itself a treat since a lot of romances put the characters in a vacuum where there are never any other people—I was able to figure out exactly why they’d be well-suited when they eventually got together. They also exchanged elicit letters, which I thought gave the relationship some depth not provided by the insta-lust the characters were hit with from the start.
I would classify this book squarely as fantasy romance. I’m not particularly bothered by how wallpaper the historical setting is, as long as I’m having fun, and obviously the strong presence of magic means this won’t count as a real historical. I thought that Eleanor was feisty enough to convince me she was unconventional without entirely turning into a 21st century woman dressed in costume. As I said, I love the fact that she has friends—and many of them are women, which is also something I adore.
John was delightful—sweet, intelligent about most things, and kind-hearted. He’s not a posturing alpha male, and it was refreshing to read a Regency-set historical (even one with magic) where the lead isn’t the duke of something-or-other.
A Widow in Waiting is also squeaky clean. I’m not sure there was much in the way of bad language, and the bedroom door was kept decorously close when the lovers finally consummated their romance. I also don’t remember anything in the way of strong language, and all the violence happens off-screen.
There is plenty of room for sequels, and Walsh has planned three, at least one of which I’m eagerly anticipating reading. I’d love to see John and Eleanor through other people’s eyes, and if her sense of adventure and talent for the truly romantic is as good in those other books, I’ll be happy.
I do have to admit that I took the star ratings down a bit due to the fact that there were no shades of gray. All the good guys were unquestionably good, the villains were pure evil, and the author never even attempts subtlety. I thought her depiction of Ireland in particular was far more romantic than realistic, and I would have liked a little more conflict that couldn’t be so easily wrapped up. But it’s not right to complain that Walsh wrote a different book than the one I read, and over all I’m very satisfied and can’t wait to see what she has in store next.
June 23, 2013
Normally, I do not read books about life in this timeframe, but this book was the exception. The author has woven a fascinating tale of life, where magic exists, in Ireland, a land we all expect to be filled with magic, legends, folklore, etc. Who is the killer? One person knows, but must protect her secret as she moves through the story to her love—if the secret remains a secret. The author has created a story with believable, interesting characters, where magic still exists and people live peacefully. I found it a wonderful experience to enter this world and become part of it, if only for a time. Yes, I am hooked on the Chronicles of Glenscar and wait to see how Sean and Noreen’s journey will continue. The author has moved into my reading life, and I am waiting for more of her works. I received this book free from Library Thing to read and review.
July 13, 2012
A lovely story, with believable and enjoyable characters! It was easy to slip into a world where magic still exists, and can live harmoniously on a piece of the Irish coast.
Some of the transitions were confusing - leaving stories untold, which can be useful for suspense, but more often had me turning back chapters to see what I had missed.
I am curious to see the next steps in Noreen and Sean's journey, and to also see how Walsh continues to improve.
Some of the transitions were confusing - leaving stories untold, which can be useful for suspense, but more often had me turning back chapters to see what I had missed.
I am curious to see the next steps in Noreen and Sean's journey, and to also see how Walsh continues to improve.
June 22, 2012
I like Anne's writing style and always look forward to the updates of her stories in Dangerverse. It feels as if we (Dangerverse followers) have been witnessing her grow up through her writing and get better and better at it. Best wishes for her chosen career and may she bestow us with many more originals!
January 13, 2013
Even though it took me way too long to read, RL got in the middle, I really enjoyed the book. I have to say it's a typical story with a very interesting twist.
I found the timeline a little bit confusing at some points, and I think some parts were not too clear.
All in all I liked it, and enjoyed it.
I found the timeline a little bit confusing at some points, and I think some parts were not too clear.
All in all I liked it, and enjoyed it.
April 8, 2015
I got to read a rough draft but have yet to buy a copy. I like it, because I know the songs this story is baed off of, which always makes it fun.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews