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Warrender Saga #11
Primadonna
Seguendo il consiglio del giovane ma già famoso compositore Jerome Leydon, che l'ha sentita cantare a scuola, Amanda si presenta all'organista del villaggio, Peter Elsworth, il quale, contro ogni previsione, non solo l'accetta nel coro, ma si offre di darle gratis lezioni di canto. Sotto la guida del maestro il talento di Amanda si affina e matura e, improvvisamente, Jerome si rifà vivo e le offre su un piatto d'argento l'opportunità di entrare da protagonista nel mondo dello spettacolo. A questo punto, però, Peter si oppone…
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
18 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Mary Burchell
162 books83 followersIda Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 22, 2016
This is the eleventh book in the Warrender Saga and takes place 12 years after the events of the first book. It's been interesting to see how Mary Burchell fleshes out her opera universe. In this case, she has many new characters, yet she features the festival from book two, and of course, Oscar and Anthea Warrender.
Nightingales is the name of the family run hotel where the heroine works with her brother and sister-in-law. The sister-in-law wanted to be a singer, but had to put her training aside when her race car-driving husband crashed and injured himself. He is still in pain, but can get around. When heroine joins a choir (directed by the hero) she feels she must hide how good she is so her sister-in-law won't be jealous. The heroine feels a great obligation to the hero who is giving her lessons for free, but he is fairly remote during their lessons. She has no idea how good she is (probably because hero doesn't praise her much), but eventually both a composer of lightweight music, and Oscar Warrender hear about her.
This was not heavy on the romance, but what was there, was sweet. Hero appears beta - until his inner alpha is revealed at the end. Heroine progressed from hiding her talent to believing in herself and her place in the world. It was a long, interesting journey.
Artistic jealousy (as opposed to romantic jealousy) was an underlying theme throughout, as was using your art for good (something morally uplifting) rather than evil (sophisticated satire and cynicism). This isn't the first time Mary Burchell, has touched on this, but here it was center stage.
Nightingales is the name of the family run hotel where the heroine works with her brother and sister-in-law. The sister-in-law wanted to be a singer, but had to put her training aside when her race car-driving husband crashed and injured himself. He is still in pain, but can get around. When heroine joins a choir (directed by the hero) she feels she must hide how good she is so her sister-in-law won't be jealous. The heroine feels a great obligation to the hero who is giving her lessons for free, but he is fairly remote during their lessons. She has no idea how good she is (probably because hero doesn't praise her much), but eventually both a composer of lightweight music, and Oscar Warrender hear about her.
This was not heavy on the romance, but what was there, was sweet. Hero appears beta - until his inner alpha is revealed at the end. Heroine progressed from hiding her talent to believing in herself and her place in the world. It was a long, interesting journey.
Artistic jealousy (as opposed to romantic jealousy) was an underlying theme throughout, as was using your art for good (something morally uplifting) rather than evil (sophisticated satire and cynicism). This isn't the first time Mary Burchell, has touched on this, but here it was center stage.
May 12, 2023
Not romance exactly but nice voyage!
July 28, 2015
Part of the The Warrender Saga. It was nice to watch her making the right decision by going to Oscar Warrender and Anthea when she needed help and an honest opinion.
April 22, 2023
I don't think there was anything better or worse in this one than all the ones I binge read in March, but I lost the thread of them somehow and getting back into them was hard. There's also just a limited amount they do with this particular formula. There's a thread of morality that runs through the whole series and in this one it felt more present than in any of the others, with the heroine being given a choice between a bawdy entertainment for money vs the purity of opera, and maybe that was also partially what I didn't respond to. Sometimes people have to eat or help their families and that doesn't make them bad people for responding to reality!
December 2, 2018
I think this is the first time I’ve read a beta hero and is not described as handsome or attractive written by Mary Burchell.
June 23, 2020
Unlike the more vivacious stories in the Warrender series, this one is more placid, straight.
Its somewhat a repeat premise of Oscar Warrender and his darling wife Anthea. But its nowhere as engaging as the original one.
In this installment, the girl is the new operatic find, Amanda. The guy is her teacher, composer Lewis.
He trains her on his expense. He pays for her brother's medical expenses surreptitiously. He designs an entire opera with her as the lead in mind.
Basically he is nuts about her. But he doesn't do a thing about showing that to her !!!!! Being all lordly and noble and platonic all the bloody time !?!??!!@!^#%^#
She, for her part is faced with a morality crisis. That's the best part of the book. As a singer, she is very good, she knows that. But years of perseverance and a rare chance of success is what awaits her in the right path - the path to serious singing and opera.
But her brother has had an accident. The family badly needs money to survive. So a quick fix option seems like a good idea too. Sing for some raunchy jingles and make a quick buck.
What's one to do ? Simple, ask Oscar Warrender - the messiah of this entire series. He forbids the easy route. His sweet charming wife offers to pay the money instead. However, our lofty hero decides Amanda is his responsibility and he pays up instead. This mess clears a little too early in the story if you ask me.
Then comes the regular Warrender series plot line. Somebody breaks a leg, so the lead pair get a sudden chance to a debut performance. They of course do well. And in the post performance euphoria, declare everlasting love. No, not really. Even the wretched love confession is done by Oscar Warrender , the hero is only gaping from a corner !!!!!!!!
All that I wanted was a little grabbing and kissing, some bickering and flirting. No such luck here. This fellow is too decent. Sigh !!
Its somewhat a repeat premise of Oscar Warrender and his darling wife Anthea. But its nowhere as engaging as the original one.
In this installment, the girl is the new operatic find, Amanda. The guy is her teacher, composer Lewis.
He trains her on his expense. He pays for her brother's medical expenses surreptitiously. He designs an entire opera with her as the lead in mind.
Basically he is nuts about her. But he doesn't do a thing about showing that to her !!!!! Being all lordly and noble and platonic all the bloody time !?!??!!@!^#%^#
She, for her part is faced with a morality crisis. That's the best part of the book. As a singer, she is very good, she knows that. But years of perseverance and a rare chance of success is what awaits her in the right path - the path to serious singing and opera.
But her brother has had an accident. The family badly needs money to survive. So a quick fix option seems like a good idea too. Sing for some raunchy jingles and make a quick buck.
What's one to do ? Simple, ask Oscar Warrender - the messiah of this entire series. He forbids the easy route. His sweet charming wife offers to pay the money instead. However, our lofty hero decides Amanda is his responsibility and he pays up instead. This mess clears a little too early in the story if you ask me.
Then comes the regular Warrender series plot line. Somebody breaks a leg, so the lead pair get a sudden chance to a debut performance. They of course do well. And in the post performance euphoria, declare everlasting love. No, not really. Even the wretched love confession is done by Oscar Warrender , the hero is only gaping from a corner !!!!!!!!
All that I wanted was a little grabbing and kissing, some bickering and flirting. No such luck here. This fellow is too decent. Sigh !!
January 28, 2025
Another heartwarming Warrender saga book by Mary Burchell. I've been waiting for this one to arrive in the mail before I can finish reading all 13 books in the series.
Amanda has a beautiful voice which has never been trained beyond her school choir days. She is recommended by Jerome Leydon to seek out Lewis Elsworth's church choir to see if she can join. Both men are composers, and both take an interest in Amanda. Lewis gives her singing lessons in addition to her role in the church choir. Jeremy tells Oscar Warrender about this talented singer he has heard, and thus, Sir Oscar enters the story.
Interwoven into the book is the story of Amanda's brother, Henry, and his wife. Henry has sustained a serious injury racing cars and needs an operation to help him to recover his health.
Anthea Warrender plays a role throughout the book, and I'm always glad to see her, as she is my favorite character. And of course, Sir Oscar is heavily involved in the plot. As difficult as he is, he has a good heart to go with his high standards.
This is the second time I've read this book since December.
Amanda has a beautiful voice which has never been trained beyond her school choir days. She is recommended by Jerome Leydon to seek out Lewis Elsworth's church choir to see if she can join. Both men are composers, and both take an interest in Amanda. Lewis gives her singing lessons in addition to her role in the church choir. Jeremy tells Oscar Warrender about this talented singer he has heard, and thus, Sir Oscar enters the story.
Interwoven into the book is the story of Amanda's brother, Henry, and his wife. Henry has sustained a serious injury racing cars and needs an operation to help him to recover his health.
Anthea Warrender plays a role throughout the book, and I'm always glad to see her, as she is my favorite character. And of course, Sir Oscar is heavily involved in the plot. As difficult as he is, he has a good heart to go with his high standards.
This is the second time I've read this book since December.
November 29, 2022
It was just so lovely, one of those cosey, comforting M&B books with a sweet kind hearted h and a shy, reserved H. I adored the scenes with them working together on their music, really I would have been happy with an entire book of just that and sod the OM drama.
Did not know this was #11 in a 'saga' going in (this kind of info only ever shows up on goodreads, the publisher doesn't give you even a clue), it's a very good standalone although I did get a hunch that Sir whats-his-face and his missus probably featured in their own book. Since I only ever come across these books in charity shops I'll have to cross my fingers and hope that fate delivers unto me the other books in this saga now! (OK that or e bay I guess)
Did not know this was #11 in a 'saga' going in (this kind of info only ever shows up on goodreads, the publisher doesn't give you even a clue), it's a very good standalone although I did get a hunch that Sir whats-his-face and his missus probably featured in their own book. Since I only ever come across these books in charity shops I'll have to cross my fingers and hope that fate delivers unto me the other books in this saga now! (OK that or e bay I guess)
August 10, 2024
I LOVE this series!!
Frustration, overwhelming joy followed by total despair, confusion, anger, jealousy, heartbreak, discovery of one's truly amazing gifts, trust, villainous characters disguised as friends. All of these and so much more have been so beautifully written by M. Burchell.
I couldn't help but feel the joys and agonies of the main characters.
I highly recommend this series to anyone with an interest in music!
Frustration, overwhelming joy followed by total despair, confusion, anger, jealousy, heartbreak, discovery of one's truly amazing gifts, trust, villainous characters disguised as friends. All of these and so much more have been so beautifully written by M. Burchell.
I couldn't help but feel the joys and agonies of the main characters.
I highly recommend this series to anyone with an interest in music!
August 1, 2023
Oh wow, this one was a wild ride! So many misunderstandings-by-circumstance (like running into the wrong person at the wrong time) and definitely the usual "some art is better than others" message, but ultimately I did like how it all worked together.
But, yes, just a wild ride.
But, yes, just a wild ride.
July 17, 2021
A little preachier than the others in the series, but some nice appearances from Anthea and Oscar and the plot moved along swiftly.
September 3, 2023
Probably my favorite of the Warrender series which I read as a teenager
April 16, 2013
I read my first Harlequin romance when I was in junior high and I read many more over the next 10 years or so. Mary Buchell was my favorite author. She and her sister rescued Jews from the Nazis, funded by her writing, which makes her an admirable person. Her stories often have unusual characters and plots for genre romance. I recently began rereading and reviewing an old box of romances that I kept.
Her one long series was the Warrender Saga, starting with a singer and a director falling in love. They marry and appear as minor characters in the rest of the books in the series, all of which concern musicians in some fashion or another. Although I liked the first book, I'm not that into music so the other books in the series are not among my favorites. This book is very late in the series (number 11) and fairly dull for a Burchell book. Only for true Burchell afficionados.
Her one long series was the Warrender Saga, starting with a singer and a director falling in love. They marry and appear as minor characters in the rest of the books in the series, all of which concern musicians in some fashion or another. Although I liked the first book, I'm not that into music so the other books in the series are not among my favorites. This book is very late in the series (number 11) and fairly dull for a Burchell book. Only for true Burchell afficionados.
May 6, 2022
Nightingales
I loved this book. Thank goodness for authors like Mary Burchell who can write a beautiful love story without resorting to explicit sex - refreshing to say the least.
I think Sir Oscar is mellowing a bit as the series goes on - I like him and Anthea more and more.
These books have given me a love of classical music which I never had before - a bonus to enjoying the books!
I loved this book. Thank goodness for authors like Mary Burchell who can write a beautiful love story without resorting to explicit sex - refreshing to say the least.
I think Sir Oscar is mellowing a bit as the series goes on - I like him and Anthea more and more.
These books have given me a love of classical music which I never had before - a bonus to enjoying the books!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews