Devil's Palace

by Margaret Pemberton

In 1880 the meeting place of international royalty and the twilight world of the demi-monde is the dazzling casino at Monte Carlo. To the young and beautiful Charlotte Grainger, humble companion to Princess Natalya, one figure stands out above Sarah Bernhardt, the Prince of Wales and the crowned heads of Europe — Count Sandor Karolyi, the man referred to as the Devil’s Spawn. Can she ever hope to understand the enigmatic Hungarian — a man of wealth and title, of notorious reputation, a man who regards her as mildly amusing? Will she learn the cause of the anguish he is so careful never to show in public, and can she help him to banish forever the past which threatens his future happiness?

203 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Margaret A. Hudson was born on 10 April 1943 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK, of German extraction. She was daughter of Kathleen (Ramsden), an artist, and George Arthur Hudson, an architect. Married with Londoner Mike Pemberton, they have five grown children, today she lives with her husband and four small dogs in Whitstable, Kent. Apart from writing, her passions are tango, travel, English history and the English countryside.

Published since 1975, she is a bestselling romance writer as Margaret Pemberton, and under the pseudonyms Carris Carlisle; Maggie Hudson and Rebecca Dean. Having travelled extensively, her novels are set in different parts of the world. She was the fifteenth elected Chairman of the Romantic Novelists' Association (1989-1991), she has also served on the Crime Writers' Association Committee.

Reviews

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Masquerade number 134.
In 1880 the meeting place of international royalty and the twilight world of the demi-monde is the dazzling casino at Monte Carlo. To the young and beautiful Charlotte Grainger, humble companion to Princess Natalya, one figure stands out above Sarah Bernhardt, the Prince of Wales and the crowned heads of Europe — Count Sandor Karolyi, the man referred to as the Devil’s Spawn. Can she ever hope to understand the enigmatic Hungarian — a man of wealth and title, of notorious reputation, a man who regards her as mildly amusing? Will she learn the cause of the anguish he is so careful never to show in public, and can she help him to banish forever the past which threatens his future happiness?

[ANGELIA · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, this is the best of Ms. Pemberton's books I've read. I liked both the H and h, and aside from all the casino gambling being a bit tiresome, the story was good.