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Stormswift
ABDUCTED BY A SAVAGE HORDE, A HIGHBORN MAIDEN IS SOLD INTO CRUEL SLAVERY
Follow the extraordinary journey of Jemimah Lawley, a proud English heiress, as she makes her desperate escape from brutal captivity across the windswept tracts of Central Asia to Witchwood Hall, her ancestral mansion.
With no resources but determination and a resilience born of her years of suffering, Jemimah survives the five-hundred-mile trek with her only companion, a mysterious, fierce-eyed stranger named Kassim. But her return holds no joy, for the young woman who greets her at the door of Witchwood Hall insists that she is Jemimah Lawley.
Branded an impostor, doubting her very sanity, Jemimah becomes an outcast--until a beautiful benefactress takes her under her wing. But dark, hidden passions shadow her newfound contentment. Only when Jemimah deciphers the cryptic, fevered message Kassim once whispered to her in the Asian wasteland--"Stormswift"--can she hope to find peace and happiness.
Follow the extraordinary journey of Jemimah Lawley, a proud English heiress, as she makes her desperate escape from brutal captivity across the windswept tracts of Central Asia to Witchwood Hall, her ancestral mansion.
With no resources but determination and a resilience born of her years of suffering, Jemimah survives the five-hundred-mile trek with her only companion, a mysterious, fierce-eyed stranger named Kassim. But her return holds no joy, for the young woman who greets her at the door of Witchwood Hall insists that she is Jemimah Lawley.
Branded an impostor, doubting her very sanity, Jemimah becomes an outcast--until a beautiful benefactress takes her under her wing. But dark, hidden passions shadow her newfound contentment. Only when Jemimah deciphers the cryptic, fevered message Kassim once whispered to her in the Asian wasteland--"Stormswift"--can she hope to find peace and happiness.
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First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
Madeleine Brent
31 books217 followersMadeleine Brent is a pseudonym used by Peter O'Donnell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
August 18, 2018
I've got some GR friends who are big Madeleine Brent fans, and I really enjoyed Golden Urchin, so I was excited to see that my local library had a couple more of her (his*) books, which are historical romance/adventure books written in the 70's and 80's.
Stormswift starts out with a bang: Jemimah Lawley is a young woman whose parents were killed, 2 1/2 years before the book begins, in the Kabul, Afghanistan massacre of the British of 1879 (shout-out to The Far Pavilions lovers here), when Jemimah was 17. Jemimah escapes Kabul with a servant, but is quickly captured and sold to a brutal tribal king, who hasn't been having any luck having children and was told by one of his shamans that he needed to try marrying a European woman.
The book doesn't pull its punches here: the king "marries" Jemimah, beats her into submission, tries his best to get her pregnant, and casts her aside in disgust when that doesn't work (luckily the guy is shooting blanks). Jemimah's been working as a servant since, keeping her head down, but now another local king--an even worse guy than the first king--wants to give her a try. Her current master, a local doctor, decides to help her escape, and hands her over to a peddler who promises to deliver her to the British.
This first part was exciting and compelling reading. Things slow down a bit when Jemimah gets to England to reclaim her heritage, but there are some interesting and unexpected twists and turns in the plot. I don't know that any of them are total shockers, and some of them are a little (okay, a lot) far-fetched, but I was going along for the ride and having a good time . . . until I got about 75 pages from the end and the love story The book totally warns you this is happening--no surprises here--but I still kept hoping . And then the ending just drove the final stake into my heart. So I was feeling rather grumpy when I finished.
Here's the deal: If I'm viewing Stormswift simply as a rather better-than-average romance novel, it ultimately disappointed me, because I wasn't into the guy Jemimah chooses. And from a literary point of view, it just didn't have the level of depth and complexity that a novel needs to make me suck up whatever romantic disappointments I might have, and love the book for its literary qualities, like, say, Rebecca.
Some of my GR friends (hi, Dorcas and Tweety) feel quite differently about this book so, as always, your mileage may vary.
*Madeleine Brent was a pseudonym for Peter O'Donnell, best known for the Modesty Blaise series.
Stormswift starts out with a bang: Jemimah Lawley is a young woman whose parents were killed, 2 1/2 years before the book begins, in the Kabul, Afghanistan massacre of the British of 1879 (shout-out to The Far Pavilions lovers here), when Jemimah was 17. Jemimah escapes Kabul with a servant, but is quickly captured and sold to a brutal tribal king, who hasn't been having any luck having children and was told by one of his shamans that he needed to try marrying a European woman.
The book doesn't pull its punches here: the king "marries" Jemimah, beats her into submission, tries his best to get her pregnant, and casts her aside in disgust when that doesn't work (luckily the guy is shooting blanks). Jemimah's been working as a servant since, keeping her head down, but now another local king--an even worse guy than the first king--wants to give her a try. Her current master, a local doctor, decides to help her escape, and hands her over to a peddler who promises to deliver her to the British.
This first part was exciting and compelling reading. Things slow down a bit when Jemimah gets to England to reclaim her heritage, but there are some interesting and unexpected twists and turns in the plot. I don't know that any of them are total shockers, and some of them are a little (okay, a lot) far-fetched, but I was going along for the ride and having a good time . . . until I got about 75 pages from the end and the love story The book totally warns you this is happening--no surprises here--but I still kept hoping . And then the ending just drove the final stake into my heart. So I was feeling rather grumpy when I finished.
Here's the deal: If I'm viewing Stormswift simply as a rather better-than-average romance novel, it ultimately disappointed me, because I wasn't into the guy Jemimah chooses. And from a literary point of view, it just didn't have the level of depth and complexity that a novel needs to make me suck up whatever romantic disappointments I might have, and love the book for its literary qualities, like, say, Rebecca.
Some of my GR friends (hi, Dorcas and Tweety) feel quite differently about this book so, as always, your mileage may vary.
*Madeleine Brent was a pseudonym for Peter O'Donnell, best known for the Modesty Blaise series.
May 17, 2015
In my antique painted cabinet I have a shelf for books to "keep." This will go there.
I love the turns and twists and surprises in Brent's books! There is an interesting contrast between the way he writes and the storyline. The writing is understated while the events are not and may even be shocking. Not a lot of dramatic description but somehow it works. I had the same feeling when I started Golden Urchin by this author. This is a bit dry...but then, I quickly became completely immersed and realized that though it's not poetic and flowery it is clean, succinct and yet somehow still very descriptive. And there is no question of time and place - you are there with the characters. And so much happens! Also, I have to mention that I adored every one of the characters in this book. Every one is unique, dimensional and more than a bit curious.
If this theme of a young woman bereft in some savage countryside struggling to survive against all odds through her sheer determination, wit, grace and skill is a common scenario for Brent, then I am ready to read more. I absolutely love it. I find it so curious that a man chooses to write about young female struggling protagonists and does it so well. I wonder why this focus and how he imagines this perspective so well? No matter, this is well done clean romantic adventure appropriate for any age.
I love the turns and twists and surprises in Brent's books! There is an interesting contrast between the way he writes and the storyline. The writing is understated while the events are not and may even be shocking. Not a lot of dramatic description but somehow it works. I had the same feeling when I started Golden Urchin by this author. This is a bit dry...but then, I quickly became completely immersed and realized that though it's not poetic and flowery it is clean, succinct and yet somehow still very descriptive. And there is no question of time and place - you are there with the characters. And so much happens! Also, I have to mention that I adored every one of the characters in this book. Every one is unique, dimensional and more than a bit curious.
If this theme of a young woman bereft in some savage countryside struggling to survive against all odds through her sheer determination, wit, grace and skill is a common scenario for Brent, then I am ready to read more. I absolutely love it. I find it so curious that a man chooses to write about young female struggling protagonists and does it so well. I wonder why this focus and how he imagines this perspective so well? No matter, this is well done clean romantic adventure appropriate for any age.
May 7, 2015
This could very possibly be Madeleine Brent's best book... I'm still deciding, but it a close call with Golden Urchin.
I loved this book completely and unlike Moonraker's Bride that had me wanting more interaction between the hero and heroine, this book was perfect. I can't think of anything I'd like to change, other than giving absolutely every character I liked a perfectly unrealistic happy ending. Also, I liked this hero more than the one in Golden Urchin.
From reviews, it seems a lot of people were disappointed with who the hero turned out to be, but if you are worried read the last page several months before you read the book, and you will have to love the hero. He's completely lovable, if not the Alfa male most heroes seem to have to be.
Since I've forg everyone's names they will just have to be the heroine, the hero and hero number two. :)
The heroine is the typical capable Brent heroine. She has had a hard life, and she's changed from a spoiled brat to a caring woman. When she makes a daring escape from her "prison" in India she travels with a sober, silent man who never speaks to her if he can possibly help it.
He makes the hero
When the heroine makes good her escape she has a whole new experience and new problems. She finds that she no longer exists, someone else is claiming to be her! With nowhere to go she joins a Punch and Judy show which is run by the most unusual of characters...
PG some swears, mention of wife swapping and that's all I can remember since I'm reviewing this book super late.
September 26, 2014
Another thoroughly enjoyable adventure by Madeleine Brent.
In this story our heroine escapes the massacre of Kabul (1879) which killed her parents only to be kidnapped and sold to a tribal chief, Deenbur. On learning of the chief's plan to trade her for another wife, she plans a great escape. An escape that surely would have failed if not for the help of a mountain trader, Kassim. What follows is an exciting 500 mile trek across Afghanistan to possible freedom...
I won't go any further in describing the plot for fear of giving away spoilers, but this is quite the ride! Afghanistan, England, a Punch and Judy show, An evil woman known to some as "Stormswift" and a return to Afghanistan for another rescue.
Some reviewers did not like a turn the book took in its second half but I have to say I was satisfied with how it ended. So please don't be tempted to read spoilerish reviews (and there's plenty out there), just read the book with no preconceived notions and enjoy the ride.
Why 4 stars and not 5?
Well it's pretty minor, but I did feel the book was a bit repetitive at times with regard to Lalla's history. Also, the story lacks the nail biting culmination we've come to expect from a M.B book.(It's still exciting, I just never held my breath) However, it is entirely enjoyable and I'm really glad I read it. I would read it again, which is an automatic 4 stars for me.
CONTENT:
SEX: None, though there's talk of mistresses and forced marriage
PROFANITY: B,D
VIOLENCE: Mild (Some people die but there are no gratuitous descriptions)
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: None
MY RATING: PG
In this story our heroine escapes the massacre of Kabul (1879) which killed her parents only to be kidnapped and sold to a tribal chief, Deenbur. On learning of the chief's plan to trade her for another wife, she plans a great escape. An escape that surely would have failed if not for the help of a mountain trader, Kassim. What follows is an exciting 500 mile trek across Afghanistan to possible freedom...
I won't go any further in describing the plot for fear of giving away spoilers, but this is quite the ride! Afghanistan, England, a Punch and Judy show, An evil woman known to some as "Stormswift" and a return to Afghanistan for another rescue.
Some reviewers did not like a turn the book took in its second half but I have to say I was satisfied with how it ended. So please don't be tempted to read spoilerish reviews (and there's plenty out there), just read the book with no preconceived notions and enjoy the ride.
Why 4 stars and not 5?
Well it's pretty minor, but I did feel the book was a bit repetitive at times with regard to Lalla's history. Also, the story lacks the nail biting culmination we've come to expect from a M.B book.(It's still exciting, I just never held my breath) However, it is entirely enjoyable and I'm really glad I read it. I would read it again, which is an automatic 4 stars for me.
CONTENT:
SEX: None, though there's talk of mistresses and forced marriage
PROFANITY: B,D
VIOLENCE: Mild (Some people die but there are no gratuitous descriptions)
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: None
MY RATING: PG
May 27, 2023
What's a girl to do?
Kidnapped, forcibly married, abandoned, conned, you name it, this historical fiction has it all including a romance, though it comes later. But stick with it because this was a wonderfully told adventure.
The story drew me in. I felt like I was a fly on the wall. Madeleine Brent managed to knit, loop and mesh Lalla's past, presence and future with interesting characters and a great storyline.
And I would have never guessed how the story ended, but it was a deserving finish.
Kidnapped, forcibly married, abandoned, conned, you name it, this historical fiction has it all including a romance, though it comes later. But stick with it because this was a wonderfully told adventure.
The story drew me in. I felt like I was a fly on the wall. Madeleine Brent managed to knit, loop and mesh Lalla's past, presence and future with interesting characters and a great storyline.
And I would have never guessed how the story ended, but it was a deserving finish.
July 6, 2023
**Kind of spoilery. a few things are revealed, but they won't come as any surprise to a fan of this author***
What a wild ride this one was! And I believe this was my first reading. I find it hard to believe I could have missed this one, although it follows ”her” usual established plot outline and characters, and so is theoretically easy to conflate with other stories.
I believe structure-wise this is quite possibly her best book. Madeleine starts weaving her spell from the very first page, as usual. Our first person heroine-narrator had been captured and held as a wife, then the slave of an Afghanistani tribal chief, before being sold to a village doctor to whom she becomes his nurse and like a daughter. Of course, she is English and of gentle and wealthy birth, though she is now an orphan. Her “master” learns that she is to be sold to a cruel and mad rival leader and he enlists a mysterious peddler to try to get her to a British Outpost. They succeed, of course, and the rest of the book is spent on her adventures in England. When she gets to her family estate to claim her inheritance from her massacred parents, she finds she has been replaced by an impostor(!) She is cast out and is taken in by the clownish owner of a traveling Punch and Judy show and his gypsy girlfriend(!!) Before she is restored to her rightful birthright, she returns to her old stomping grounds on an exciting and benevolent mission. So many things happen to this girl, it is mind-boggling. What I have listed doesn’t even scratch the surface, but it flows together and makes sense.
I believe somewhere in the middle, the author changed her mind about the final fate of our heroine, Jemimah, and went in a completely different direction than what the reader was prepared for. I won’t say more, but I loved it! If this story had been written by someone else, I think that the shock of Jemimah being done out of her true identity and fortune would have taken up most of the focus of the plot. But Jemimah has so many other adventures and twists and turns in her life, that this actually gets put on the back burner. After all, she reasons, she is just lucky to be alive with shelter and food! I loved how completely justice is served, how Jemima is exonerated, and what a happy and exciting life she is set up for.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
What a wild ride this one was! And I believe this was my first reading. I find it hard to believe I could have missed this one, although it follows ”her” usual established plot outline and characters, and so is theoretically easy to conflate with other stories.
I believe structure-wise this is quite possibly her best book. Madeleine starts weaving her spell from the very first page, as usual. Our first person heroine-narrator had been captured and held as a wife, then the slave of an Afghanistani tribal chief, before being sold to a village doctor to whom she becomes his nurse and like a daughter. Of course, she is English and of gentle and wealthy birth, though she is now an orphan. Her “master” learns that she is to be sold to a cruel and mad rival leader and he enlists a mysterious peddler to try to get her to a British Outpost. They succeed, of course, and the rest of the book is spent on her adventures in England. When she gets to her family estate to claim her inheritance from her massacred parents, she finds she has been replaced by an impostor(!) She is cast out and is taken in by the clownish owner of a traveling Punch and Judy show and his gypsy girlfriend(!!) Before she is restored to her rightful birthright, she returns to her old stomping grounds on an exciting and benevolent mission. So many things happen to this girl, it is mind-boggling. What I have listed doesn’t even scratch the surface, but it flows together and makes sense.
I believe somewhere in the middle, the author changed her mind about the final fate of our heroine, Jemimah, and went in a completely different direction than what the reader was prepared for. I won’t say more, but I loved it! If this story had been written by someone else, I think that the shock of Jemimah being done out of her true identity and fortune would have taken up most of the focus of the plot. But Jemimah has so many other adventures and twists and turns in her life, that this actually gets put on the back burner. After all, she reasons, she is just lucky to be alive with shelter and food! I loved how completely justice is served, how Jemima is exonerated, and what a happy and exciting life she is set up for.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
September 30, 2016
Adventure tale with widespread location and occupation is a far more interesting read than the current fare in this related genre. And the character development for the protagonist and at least 5 or 6 other characters is incredible. In conversational tone, and at other times of transition, it almost would remind you of the "English novel of manners" of the more literate tomes of this late Victorian era. It is a romance only in a far wider sense of acknowledging that our heroine will likely want to marry and have her own children eventually. But there is never the structural status that is firm as cement- as for instance, in a Pride and Prejudice.
Because this woman has dared far more than just traipsing to London, an aunt's, or the next door neighbor's estate. And the "badie" duplicitous friend is also manipulative and hard to swallow for the lengths of success she seems to achieve. I was reminded of that phrase "You can't fool all the people all the time." It seems she did.
There are so many abrupt and vastly altering stations of life included that at times it really did test my ability to suspend the disbelief. But the style of the prose more than makes up for any absurdity in circumstance and coincidence.
Because this woman has dared far more than just traipsing to London, an aunt's, or the next door neighbor's estate. And the "badie" duplicitous friend is also manipulative and hard to swallow for the lengths of success she seems to achieve. I was reminded of that phrase "You can't fool all the people all the time." It seems she did.
There are so many abrupt and vastly altering stations of life included that at times it really did test my ability to suspend the disbelief. But the style of the prose more than makes up for any absurdity in circumstance and coincidence.
November 5, 2019
2 1/2 Stars for the story and writing...the cover 4 but don't let that fool ya..
Very disappointing this one.
The book was all over the place with the characters, and the plot and pacing of it had me losing interest real fast. :(
Very disappointing this one.
The book was all over the place with the characters, and the plot and pacing of it had me losing interest real fast. :(
December 31, 2015
This book moved slowly - there's a lot of history. It starts in Afghanistan, [not quite sure when but definitely a long time ago] and ends in England.
The font was small, which means I was easily distracted, [and constantly]. The plot moved rather slowly in the beginning, but once I hit that halfway mark the story just jumped out at me and I couldn't stop reading.
Major plot twist, any guess I might have had was totally tossed out the window...on fire, haha. It was a crazy ride, and I am glad that my grandmother suggested I read this book, I am almost positive I wouldn't have read it otherwise. The ending was rather a disappointment...for ME, I had seen it playing out differently, but I know it ended the way it should have.
The font was small, which means I was easily distracted, [and constantly]. The plot moved rather slowly in the beginning, but once I hit that halfway mark the story just jumped out at me and I couldn't stop reading.
Major plot twist, any guess I might have had was totally tossed out the window...on fire, haha. It was a crazy ride, and I am glad that my grandmother suggested I read this book, I am almost positive I wouldn't have read it otherwise. The ending was rather a disappointment...for ME, I had seen it playing out differently, but I know it ended the way it should have.
December 30, 2014
This is the second book of Madeleine Brent that I have read where you imagine the heroine with a certain hero and she ends up with another. The other book was A Heritage of Shadows and there the surprise wasn't so shocking. Here it was a great disappointment. So it is more 4-4,5 stars for this one because of the loss of Kassim-Caspar.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2018
Poor Brent, what he really wants is to write very detailed exciting escapades in a faraway land featuring an intrepid heroine. Which he always does admirably for the first half of his books. Then he feels he has to tack on a halfhearted romance because the genre, or maybe the publisher, demands it, and that throws off everything.
March 18, 2024
WOW, this is my first Madeleine Brent novel and I was very impressed. Every page was entertaining and the plot never got boring. I have to say, sometimes, the past events from the heroine's life were repeated to much.
This is the story of Jemimah Lowley, a young English woman who lives in Kabul with her parents, as the place gets attacked in Afghanistan's massacre of the British in 1879.
She is smuggled out of Kabul by a loyal servant but gets kidnapped by some Indians and sold to a savage brutal Afghan pacha as a wife. The pacha has been unable to have children and was told by a shaman in the village he needs an European wife to conceive a child.
Jemimah suffers a great deal and after some months, is discarded from the pachas bed, because she was unable to have a child. She is left being a kitchen servant and afterwards taken in by Sandru , the local doctor. She works with him as a nurse and he teaches her french and greek. He is an European army doctor taken prisoner by the Afghans some decades earlier.
Living in decrepit conditions, Jemimah has a better life as with the pacha until she finds out she will be sold to another brutal violent king ,as payment for the pacha's new wife.
She decides to try to run away and Sandru helps her escape with a traveling peddler Kassim.
It then follows a long and perilous journey to Herat, from were Jemimah can hope to return to England and her home in Witchwood Hall, her family mansion.
I will not go any further for not spoiling to much of the story. She has a perilous journey to Herat and arrives home to discover an unpleasant surprise. She meets another man there, who helps her out (she helps him first actually) and she tries to regain her name and family estate, lost in her absence.
There are two very different heroes in this story. I understood and liked them both, though honestly said, I preferred one more. Jemimah will fall in love with one of them (from other reviews not everyone is satisfied with her pick) and receive her happy ending after all the heartbreak and sorrow she goes through in her life.
I wish both of the main male characters would have received their happy ending though.One of them has a very tough,sorrowfull life...
I definitely recommend this book, it is well written and full of twists and turns I didn't expect.
This is the story of Jemimah Lowley, a young English woman who lives in Kabul with her parents, as the place gets attacked in Afghanistan's massacre of the British in 1879.
She is smuggled out of Kabul by a loyal servant but gets kidnapped by some Indians and sold to a savage brutal Afghan pacha as a wife. The pacha has been unable to have children and was told by a shaman in the village he needs an European wife to conceive a child.
Jemimah suffers a great deal and after some months, is discarded from the pachas bed, because she was unable to have a child. She is left being a kitchen servant and afterwards taken in by Sandru , the local doctor. She works with him as a nurse and he teaches her french and greek. He is an European army doctor taken prisoner by the Afghans some decades earlier.
Living in decrepit conditions, Jemimah has a better life as with the pacha until she finds out she will be sold to another brutal violent king ,as payment for the pacha's new wife.
She decides to try to run away and Sandru helps her escape with a traveling peddler Kassim.
It then follows a long and perilous journey to Herat, from were Jemimah can hope to return to England and her home in Witchwood Hall, her family mansion.
I will not go any further for not spoiling to much of the story. She has a perilous journey to Herat and arrives home to discover an unpleasant surprise. She meets another man there, who helps her out (she helps him first actually) and she tries to regain her name and family estate, lost in her absence.
There are two very different heroes in this story. I understood and liked them both, though honestly said, I preferred one more. Jemimah will fall in love with one of them (from other reviews not everyone is satisfied with her pick) and receive her happy ending after all the heartbreak and sorrow she goes through in her life.
I wish both of the main male characters would have received their happy ending though.One of them has a very tough,sorrowfull life...
I definitely recommend this book, it is well written and full of twists and turns I didn't expect.
October 19, 2018
5/5
After not completely enjoying Tregaron's daughter, Stormswift more than made up for it, with its twists and turns, from thw plains of Afghanistan to the roads of England. The character Jemina Lawley "Lalla", "Mim" went through quite a lot of sequential hardships, it seemed that she would never be saved. And the deception of those around her leading her to question her own identity and actions, through frustrating, was completely understandable. A very tough hard-wearing girl, who learnt to take each day as it came and no blessing however small for granted, allowing her to move forward with dignity through her trials.
All her related characters also were ones that I came to have emotions for whether it was affection, admiration or hate even. Overall I loved the story as a whole and its outcome.
After not completely enjoying Tregaron's daughter, Stormswift more than made up for it, with its twists and turns, from thw plains of Afghanistan to the roads of England. The character Jemina Lawley "Lalla", "Mim" went through quite a lot of sequential hardships, it seemed that she would never be saved. And the deception of those around her leading her to question her own identity and actions, through frustrating, was completely understandable. A very tough hard-wearing girl, who learnt to take each day as it came and no blessing however small for granted, allowing her to move forward with dignity through her trials.
All her related characters also were ones that I came to have emotions for whether it was affection, admiration or hate even. Overall I loved the story as a whole and its outcome.
June 26, 2019
3.8
My least favourite Madeleine Brent, so far. I blame the romance.
My least favourite Madeleine Brent, so far. I blame the romance.
October 11, 2021
I wouldn't say this was my favourite Madeleine Brent book.
Firstly, I struggled to enjoy the main character, though I can't really tell you why. I guess she just came across as a bit flat and I struggled to get excited about her. There was the whole issue of her identity, but she didn't really care and no one else seemed to really care, so even when she had dinner with the imposters, I didn't feel the tension I should have felt.
Secondly, I really felt for Casper, so I finished the book feeling sad rather than happy. He ended up in a terrible marriage where he was constantly tormented, to the point of wanting to die, but then he met Jemimah and fell in love. He pushed down his feelings because he was loyal to his marriage, even if his wife was far from it, and suffered because of it. Despite that, he decided to risk his life to help Jemimah. He found out that his wife had died, making him free, and he poured his heart out to Jemimah, not knowing that she was in love with his best friend instead. Then straight away he got shot and died. It was all too tragic for me, so when we moved to the next chapter where Jemimah and Henry got together, I just wasn't feeling good about it all.
I know it is just me and others will probably love the book, but I don't think I will pick this one up again.
Firstly, I struggled to enjoy the main character, though I can't really tell you why. I guess she just came across as a bit flat and I struggled to get excited about her. There was the whole issue of her identity, but she didn't really care and no one else seemed to really care, so even when she had dinner with the imposters, I didn't feel the tension I should have felt.
Secondly, I really felt for Casper, so I finished the book feeling sad rather than happy. He ended up in a terrible marriage where he was constantly tormented, to the point of wanting to die, but then he met Jemimah and fell in love. He pushed down his feelings because he was loyal to his marriage, even if his wife was far from it, and suffered because of it. Despite that, he decided to risk his life to help Jemimah. He found out that his wife had died, making him free, and he poured his heart out to Jemimah, not knowing that she was in love with his best friend instead. Then straight away he got shot and died. It was all too tragic for me, so when we moved to the next chapter where Jemimah and Henry got together, I just wasn't feeling good about it all.
I know it is just me and others will probably love the book, but I don't think I will pick this one up again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2021
In this eighth novel Peter O'Donnell wrote under the pseudonym Madeleine Brent, eighteen year old soldier's daughter Jemimah Lawley has survived an attack on the British forces at Kabul, which has resulted in her being sold to a tribal chief. How Jemimah escapes Afghanistan and returns to late 19th Century England and what she finds there is the story that unfolds in this entertaining, well-written, and suspenseful novel. There she will meet the good and the wicked and the reader is taken along on an enjoyable ride, seen through the eyes of one of Brent's characteristic unsentimental, hardy and engaging heroines, and complemented by not just one, but two engaging heroes and one very immoral villainess (who seems to borrow just a little bit from Rebecca de Winter). Brent continues the darker tone and more adult themes of "A Heritage of Shadows," possibly as an acknowledgement that a mid-80s audience, particularly those readers already weaned on historical romance bodice rippers of the mid-70s onward, would expect and could handle stronger fare, even though "Stormswift" is never explicit.
February 10, 2009
Very interesting historical fiction set in the late 1800s about an English girl in Afghanistan who is the only one to survive an attack on the British Mission, only to be captured and live as a slave for two years. She is given the chance to escape, and then her trouble begins. I really enjoy this author.
January 8, 2014
Another great story by M. Brent. I thought it was going one way, and it went in another direction altogether. Brent is great at developing strong heroines who face their difficulties with courage and determination. His heros aren't too shabby either - I fell in love with Caspar.
February 8, 2021
Madeline...Stormswift...daughter of Electra...beautiful, so beautiful...what an utterly captivating, curious book. I devoured it and fell under it's spell most thoroughly!!!
More mystery than romance. Vivid descriptions of Central Asia and far-away lands. Characters that leave a lasting impression. This novel is perfectly named. I have no doubt the author knew precisely what she/he was doing to the reader at all times, and for that I give it my elusive 5th star.
Stormswift was handed to me by a friend without jacket cover or synopsis. I have no idea how I have lived this long without Madeline Brent on my radar. This was my first of his novels but it will not be my last! I really enjoyed how it was written.
More mystery than romance. Vivid descriptions of Central Asia and far-away lands. Characters that leave a lasting impression. This novel is perfectly named. I have no doubt the author knew precisely what she/he was doing to the reader at all times, and for that I give it my elusive 5th star.
Stormswift was handed to me by a friend without jacket cover or synopsis. I have no idea how I have lived this long without Madeline Brent on my radar. This was my first of his novels but it will not be my last! I really enjoyed how it was written.
June 16, 2021
I read this book many years ago as a RD condensed book. And I found it again and it still is a enjoyable time killer.
I’ll rate 3.5 stars for this book.
A story of a young sheltered woman’s life turned upside down by brutal death of her parents, she herself being enslaved, forced to be a wife of a tribal king, even when she escaped from her captivity her identity and heritage were stolen from her.
But it wasn’t a depressing story, it’s even give you a laugh or two sometimes.
I’ll rate 3.5 stars for this book.
A story of a young sheltered woman’s life turned upside down by brutal death of her parents, she herself being enslaved, forced to be a wife of a tribal king, even when she escaped from her captivity her identity and heritage were stolen from her.
But it wasn’t a depressing story, it’s even give you a laugh or two sometimes.
March 19, 2017
I love how the trauma of Jemimah is palpable without ever having been described in details. She's a great character - as are all of Madeleine Brent's leading ladies - essentially good, strong, self-reliant but flawed all the same. I also love that for so long from Jemimah's standpoint it is not a love story at all. It is her story, how she endures and grows. And then in the end there's love. The fact that it's and that's how it's really supposed to be.
April 14, 2009
"Lalla" escapes from the massacre of the British garrison in Kabul. She spends 2 years as a slave to a Kafiri tribesman in Afghanistan and is rescues to return triumphantly to England--or so she thinks. But imposters have stolen her fortune and in her quest to figure out who she is, Lalla comes in contact with true evil. Evil because the person looks like an angel and seems genuinely kind--until she starts to pluck at your soul like a vampire to suck the life out of you. How she is saved from "Stormswift," nick-named after one of the Harpy's in Greek mythology, and finds true love makes this an enthralling read. Having spent a year in Afghanistan, this book was especially interesting to me.
August 29, 2024
This novel is a little different from Brent's other novels. Usually, the girl starts out poor, then discovers she's from a family with money or something similar. In this case, she starts out wealthy, but loses it when she realizes someone stole her identity while she was held captive in Afghanistan.
I really like how Lalla/Mim has to figure out how to survive. And I like that the romance was unexpected.
Great book!
I really like how Lalla/Mim has to figure out how to survive. And I like that the romance was unexpected.
Great book!
August 5, 2013
All of Madeleine Brent's books are easy, entertaining reads, sometimes just what you need. I will go ahead and say that I detest the "new" covers and descriptions. They are not in any way representative of the content of these books. All of the heroines begin the story in a foreign land through (usually) unfortuitous circumstances and the story involves them making their way back to England and "into their own". Stormswift is a favorite!
March 17, 2008
Many believe this is Brent/O'Donnell's best novel. (See my review of The Golden Urchin to learn a little about the author) Stormswift is set in Afghanistan, Pakistan and England. There is much adventure, a love triangle, and, as usual, character development. Brent's books are a great way to learn of exotic lands and the customs of their people.
December 5, 2011
This book was a great surprise! I thought I had read it before, but it turned out I hadn't. STORMSWIFT is another wonderful read from Madeleine Brent. It takes the reader from the wilds of Afghanistan to a traveling Punch and Judy Show, the white-pillared terraces of English nobility...and then back again. Would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys historical romantic suspense.
June 20, 2013
The story of a girl caught in a foreign culture, a foreign land, always excites me. So how can I not like Madeleine Brent?
And I'm always amused at the little author bio at the beginning of the book. Madeleine Brent. I know 'she' is one of the writers I can read over and over again.
For a real review: http://www.varshaseshan.com/blog/stor...
I exhausted my energy writing that one!
And I'm always amused at the little author bio at the beginning of the book. Madeleine Brent. I know 'she' is one of the writers I can read over and over again.
For a real review: http://www.varshaseshan.com/blog/stor...
I exhausted my energy writing that one!
June 12, 2009
I thought that I had the plot figured out. I figured that this book whould read like the last Madeleine Brent novel, but to my surprise and delight it took turns that I never imagined. Great story of female heroin who is not afraid of anything.
January 5, 2012
Another good story about a young English girl--orphaned, of course--in dire circumstances in a foreign country (this one is in Afganistan), rescued by a mysterious man and is returned to England. I liked this one as much as Moonraker's Bride.
June 10, 2019
Here we go again. I feel like a sucker! I got sucked in AGAIN and let the house work go as I enjoyed another Madeleine Brent story. Yes it was formula, somewhat predictable, cheesy love story, and way too coincidental for reality, but I enjoyed it to the hilt!
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