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When her guardian dies, Daisy Jenkins discovers the true secret of her birth and finds herself moving in a higher social circle, where she meets the elegant Duke of Oxenden
290 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1979
20 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Jennie Tremaine
16 books35 followersMarion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Gibbons (née Chesney) was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery novels. Marion wrote her historical romances under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, as well as several pseudonyms ( Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward). Using the pseudonym M.C. Beaton she also wrote many popular mystery novels, most notably the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series. Both of these book series have been adapted for TV. Because of her great success with mystery novels her publishers both in the U.S. and abroad began using the M.C. Beaton pseudonym for all of her novels.
aka: Ann Fairfax, Helen Crampton, Marion Chesney, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Gibbons (née Chesney) was a Scottish writer of romance and mystery novels. Marion wrote her historical romances under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, as well as several pseudonyms ( Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward). Using the pseudonym M.C. Beaton she also wrote many popular mystery novels, most notably the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth mystery series. Both of these book series have been adapted for TV. Because of her great success with mystery novels her publishers both in the U.S. and abroad began using the M.C. Beaton pseudonym for all of her novels.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 30, 2017
This book was published in the first year Marion Chesney started writing (according to fictiondb) and could be forgiven for failing to accomplish what it tried to achieve. On the surface, the storyline is a very sweet, romantic, coming-of-age, rags-to-riches Cinderella tale of Daisy Jenkins who suddenly finds out she's not the niece and ward of a former maid-turned-strict-Methodist but rather the daughter of the Earl of Chatterton, a change that catapults her from her respectable butlowly upbringing into the decadent and extravagant lifestyle of the Edwardian times.
Daisy is a vague girl who dreamily longs for love. After falling for the married Earl of Nottenstone, who's one of a pair of hot-and-cold spouses, and having it end in abysmal humiliation, she and the Duke of Oxeden make a small wager -- he, disbelieving in the notion of love, wagers that she won't be able to find true love for 1000 guineas against a lock of her hair.
After that, she embarks on a London adventure to fall in love with a list of unsuitable men, a fun romp that could have been far more comedic than it was made out to be: a mama's boy, a fortune-hunter, and a lecher. She ends up having a very nice boy fall for her, only to spurn him and lead to him threatening suicide. Then she leaps back to business and in love with an actor on the stage, only to find that his appearance and voice was all due to makeup and acting. Disappointed by this itinerary of failures, she tries to seek out the father who has been sending her a generous allowance and ventures abroad to Paris with her old friend and current maid (Amy, who incidentally ends up married to the very nice boy), only to grow up and discover that her father was a reckless cardsharp who hadn't been making her the allowance and who ends up robbing from her.
After all this, we're supposed to believe she ends up falling for the Duke, and he for her, but there's no reason for it at all. The conclusion to her Paris tragedy is her father trying to escape the arm of the law and leaping from the balcony of a casino into the ocean and the Duke trying but failing to rescue him. And the last chapter, we have the two living in utter married bliss, and Amy and the very nice boy in a more realistic, non-romantic marriage.
What I believe this story originally intended was to accomplish a sort of Cinderella cum Daddy-Long-Legs cum L.M. Montgomery type of story, with the Duke of Oxeden being her secret benefactor and eventually falling for her despite her many scrapes. That might have been the case if Marion Chesney's writing expertise lay in her character and emotional development, but failed because the author's forte is in her plot-building and background and setting development. Daisy is a character that lacks any kind of spark or depth, and it seemed somehow convenient that she fell for any male that was above average or handsome in appearance. She never stops to contemplate for long the qualities she desires in a spouse (her most earnest goal in life), and if she does, it doesn't stay with her long before she's off falling for another face. She has landed in the middle of a society in which she was not brought up, but because she doesn't seem particularly intelligent, she doesn't know how to go about integrating herself into the society. It seemed odd, if not implausible, that Oxeden should fall for someone like her.
This is not to say that every heroine has to be a nuclear scientist in the making or even have lofty goals of changing the world. There was a pliability about Daisy that probably would appeal to a lot of men, but in a fictional character, she came off worse for wear, unappealing, unable to learn from her mistakes, idealistic to the point of idiocy. The heroine of Daddy-Long-Legs, Jerusha cum Judy Abbott, was also incredibly idealistic, mercurial, arrogant, and could be very judgmental at times. But through all this, she was able to evince a quiet dignity and compassion that gave her spirit. Daisy was not such a character. In fact, none of the characters behaved like the initial framework set up for them by the author and the book came off a very hot mess.
I'm not sure if it's because this type of character is one of Marion Chesney's Achilles heel...she has tried and failed to successfully bring this type of young, innocent, ingenue to the table. She should stick to extremely intelligent, brash heroines.
Daisy is a vague girl who dreamily longs for love. After falling for the married Earl of Nottenstone, who's one of a pair of hot-and-cold spouses, and having it end in abysmal humiliation, she and the Duke of Oxeden make a small wager -- he, disbelieving in the notion of love, wagers that she won't be able to find true love for 1000 guineas against a lock of her hair.
After that, she embarks on a London adventure to fall in love with a list of unsuitable men, a fun romp that could have been far more comedic than it was made out to be: a mama's boy, a fortune-hunter, and a lecher. She ends up having a very nice boy fall for her, only to spurn him and lead to him threatening suicide. Then she leaps back to business and in love with an actor on the stage, only to find that his appearance and voice was all due to makeup and acting. Disappointed by this itinerary of failures, she tries to seek out the father who has been sending her a generous allowance and ventures abroad to Paris with her old friend and current maid (Amy, who incidentally ends up married to the very nice boy), only to grow up and discover that her father was a reckless cardsharp who hadn't been making her the allowance and who ends up robbing from her.
After all this, we're supposed to believe she ends up falling for the Duke, and he for her, but there's no reason for it at all. The conclusion to her Paris tragedy is her father trying to escape the arm of the law and leaping from the balcony of a casino into the ocean and the Duke trying but failing to rescue him. And the last chapter, we have the two living in utter married bliss, and Amy and the very nice boy in a more realistic, non-romantic marriage.
What I believe this story originally intended was to accomplish a sort of Cinderella cum Daddy-Long-Legs cum L.M. Montgomery type of story, with the Duke of Oxeden being her secret benefactor and eventually falling for her despite her many scrapes. That might have been the case if Marion Chesney's writing expertise lay in her character and emotional development, but failed because the author's forte is in her plot-building and background and setting development. Daisy is a character that lacks any kind of spark or depth, and it seemed somehow convenient that she fell for any male that was above average or handsome in appearance. She never stops to contemplate for long the qualities she desires in a spouse (her most earnest goal in life), and if she does, it doesn't stay with her long before she's off falling for another face. She has landed in the middle of a society in which she was not brought up, but because she doesn't seem particularly intelligent, she doesn't know how to go about integrating herself into the society. It seemed odd, if not implausible, that Oxeden should fall for someone like her.
This is not to say that every heroine has to be a nuclear scientist in the making or even have lofty goals of changing the world. There was a pliability about Daisy that probably would appeal to a lot of men, but in a fictional character, she came off worse for wear, unappealing, unable to learn from her mistakes, idealistic to the point of idiocy. The heroine of Daddy-Long-Legs, Jerusha cum Judy Abbott, was also incredibly idealistic, mercurial, arrogant, and could be very judgmental at times. But through all this, she was able to evince a quiet dignity and compassion that gave her spirit. Daisy was not such a character. In fact, none of the characters behaved like the initial framework set up for them by the author and the book came off a very hot mess.
I'm not sure if it's because this type of character is one of Marion Chesney's Achilles heel...she has tried and failed to successfully bring this type of young, innocent, ingenue to the table. She should stick to extremely intelligent, brash heroines.
April 2, 2022
Marion Chesney's romances have an unusual layer of ironic detachment. It makes them less emotionally compelling than some, but I enjoyed the light humor, jaundiced view of Edwardian society, and flawed h/h in this one. That layer of detachment also made me not too upset about The appeal of Chesney's work for me is generally more in the setting and secondary characters/subplots than the main romance.
February 4, 2017
A silly, melodramatic romp thru Edwardian society. A cross between Anne of Green Gables and a gothic novel.
July 17, 2020
I really liked Daisy, though she is a bit of a child through most of the book. I always identify in some way with MC Beaton's characters. Daisy's ignorance of human relationships and the way she goes about growing up, falling in love, only to realise it isn't love at all for example reminds me of me bumbling along as a teenager and an early twenty. In hindsight, I so wish I'd not got involved with all of the boys/men I knew. But that's growing up and I'm sure almost every woman identifies that time with such foolishness and folly.
I do like the way she and Amy keep their friendship. So many times changes in life take friendships away. It reminds me of another book with the French maid Francine who stays with Tilly in Tilly and helps her find her way into adulthood until she too marries into the aristocracy.
I do like the way she and Amy keep their friendship. So many times changes in life take friendships away. It reminds me of another book with the French maid Francine who stays with Tilly in Tilly and helps her find her way into adulthood until she too marries into the aristocracy.
April 2, 2024
Marion Chesney romances tend to be hit or miss, and this was a miss.
I appreciated the usual element of satire and her skewering of Edwardian nobility and morality. Unlike in her better works, however, there just wasn’t enough going on otherwise to compensate for the incredibly stupid and immature heroine.
I appreciated the usual element of satire and her skewering of Edwardian nobility and morality. Unlike in her better works, however, there just wasn’t enough going on otherwise to compensate for the incredibly stupid and immature heroine.
November 15, 2017
Audio version
September 4, 2021
Did not enjoy. Heroin too dumb.
June 22, 2024
An Edwardian Romance
M.C. Newton's elegant prose a nd equally excellent research make what should be just a bit of fluff into a worthy read. Enjoy!
M.C. Newton's elegant prose a nd equally excellent research make what should be just a bit of fluff into a worthy read. Enjoy!
November 27, 2025
This is not my favorite kind of sweet, clean romance. It is about immoral drunkards partiers w/o substance with bad language. I liked the duke. He was very decent. She was an idiot.
February 10, 2013
Daisy Jenkins discovers that she is really The Honourable Daisy Chatterton after her aunt who has brought her up dies. She is sent to stay with the Earl and Countess of Nottenstone but soon finds that mixing in high society is not as easy as it appears especially when everyone seems to delight in playing practical jokes on each other and the Earl is making a pass at her. But it seems that Toby, the Duke of Oxendon is destined to be always on hand to bail her out of the scrapes she manages to get herself into.
This is a charming fast paced romance with interesting characters and a charming heroine who simply doesn’t realise how dangerous the world can be. I liked the fact that the servants – especially Curzon the butler – play a bigger part in the story than is usual in high society romances. It isn’t great literature but it is entertaining reading if you want a book to relax with and smile over and it will leave you feeling better about life when you have finished it.
This is a charming fast paced romance with interesting characters and a charming heroine who simply doesn’t realise how dangerous the world can be. I liked the fact that the servants – especially Curzon the butler – play a bigger part in the story than is usual in high society romances. It isn’t great literature but it is entertaining reading if you want a book to relax with and smile over and it will leave you feeling better about life when you have finished it.
July 8, 2023
Cute, but not her best. The heroine was a bit too naive for my taste. However, I love some of the other books in this series.
February 13, 2015
Didn't think this book was as good as some of the others.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews