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Theatre #1
The Gilded Cage
Post-Civil War New York was a golden city where wealth waited for the bold and everything had its price. It was here that well-born but impoverished Lucy Markham sought fame and fortune on the stage under a false name -- and became the toast of the town and the target of every man-about-town. It was here that handsome, iron-willed millionaire Josh Dylan came to put the seal on his success by conquering society. The moment Josh saw Lucy, he wanted her -- but only as his mistress. The moment Lucy saw Josh, she fought to quell her desire for him. For neither could afford to surrender to the one thing that threatened their carefully laid plains. Love.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1991
62 people want to read
About the author
Edith Layton
87 books103 followersEdith Layton wrote her first novel when she was ten. She bought a marbleized notebook and set out to write a story that would fit between its covers. Now, an award-winning author with more than thirty novels and numerous novellas to her credit, her criteria have changed. The story has to fit the reader as well as between the covers.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 2, 2010
Encore! Encore! Although you'll have to wait until the very end to see what that means (it was kind of cute). Joshua Clayton's father forever chased his dreams of wealth in the West, but it was Josh who was able to build a financial empire after his parent's death. Leaving the family home in Wyoming Territory, Josh heads to New York to seek even greater wealth and power but he soon finds that's easier said than done without the right connections. On a trip to the see the HMS Pinafore Josh is instantly smitten with the the show's new star, the beauteous but oh, so innocent Lucy Markham.
As an *actress* (in New York society the equivalent of a loose woman), Lucy is inappropriate wife material, but very much suitable as a mistress. Can Lucy fight her attractions to Josh and remain pure or will she submit to his charms? Will Lucy fall for the machinations of her stage manager and give everything up for fame and fortune on stage? Is Josh willing to lose any potential happiness with Lucy to gain the wealth and power he desires by marrying the daughter of the powerful Jacob Van Horne?
Despite the cheesy cover, this one is pretty tame as far as sex goes and thumbs up to the author for handling it realistically and honestly. Josh was a perfect Western gentleman who knew when no meant no and not barge on like the typical romance alpha-male. I liked the details on the women's clothing, especially the constraining effects of those corsets - thank goodness those are a thing of the past. I did enjoy this, especially the theatre backgrounds (loved hearing about Gilbert and Sullivan, and how they were plagiarized in the US), but it is definitely more on the light side and might disappoint those looking for a meaty look at post Civil War New York. Although since there's not many novels set in that period beggars can't be choosers. It is a good book and a light easy read that can keep you entertained on a rainy weekend afternoon, but neither is it a great one. 3/5 stars.
As an *actress* (in New York society the equivalent of a loose woman), Lucy is inappropriate wife material, but very much suitable as a mistress. Can Lucy fight her attractions to Josh and remain pure or will she submit to his charms? Will Lucy fall for the machinations of her stage manager and give everything up for fame and fortune on stage? Is Josh willing to lose any potential happiness with Lucy to gain the wealth and power he desires by marrying the daughter of the powerful Jacob Van Horne?
Despite the cheesy cover, this one is pretty tame as far as sex goes and thumbs up to the author for handling it realistically and honestly. Josh was a perfect Western gentleman who knew when no meant no and not barge on like the typical romance alpha-male. I liked the details on the women's clothing, especially the constraining effects of those corsets - thank goodness those are a thing of the past. I did enjoy this, especially the theatre backgrounds (loved hearing about Gilbert and Sullivan, and how they were plagiarized in the US), but it is definitely more on the light side and might disappoint those looking for a meaty look at post Civil War New York. Although since there's not many novels set in that period beggars can't be choosers. It is a good book and a light easy read that can keep you entertained on a rainy weekend afternoon, but neither is it a great one. 3/5 stars.
July 24, 2010
Reading this on holiday... reminds me a bit of Edith Wharton's House of Mirth.
Continue to be impressed by Layton. Up until the last minute I thought I might have hit upon a romance without a happy end... I have a weakness for characters who find themselves somehow not in their proper place (hence my nick - penelope wasn't supposed to wander, was she?) and this is definitely one of those. For that reason I give the book five stars, although there are other weaknesses, of course. Nonetheless an excellent read.
Continue to be impressed by Layton. Up until the last minute I thought I might have hit upon a romance without a happy end... I have a weakness for characters who find themselves somehow not in their proper place (hence my nick - penelope wasn't supposed to wander, was she?) and this is definitely one of those. For that reason I give the book five stars, although there are other weaknesses, of course. Nonetheless an excellent read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews