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Tempestuous Affair
When her father dies without leaving a male heir, Miss Lucy Stanton is forced to leave her ancestral home and live with her grandfather, Prince Virinsky
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1981
17 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Courtney
48 books28 followersHer other names: Penny Jordan, Annie Groves, Melinda Wright, Lydia Hitchcock
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on 24 November 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialised bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan, and was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale, in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her late husband bought her out of his own money at a time when he could ill afford it the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels. Her husband died at the beginning of 21th century.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for threebair-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
As Widow, Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family. She passed away on 31 December 2011.
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on 24 November 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialised bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan, and was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale, in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her late husband bought her out of his own money at a time when he could ill afford it the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels. Her husband died at the beginning of 21th century.
She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for threebair-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
As Widow, Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family. She passed away on 31 December 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 4, 2019
Harking back to my earlier days of romance reading - completely unbelievable, but so nicely old-fashioned...
June 30, 2014
My first foray into historical romance by Penny Jordan writing as Caroline Courtney and I’ve got to say, it wasn’t good. The premise is as follows: Lucy, after losing her beloved father, is sent to stay with her Russian relatives. Her guide is her cousin Nikolai who makes it clear from the start that he doesn’t want her there. There are all sorts of adventures along the way including being chased by wolves (which Lucy compares to a novel by “Mrs Radcliffe”. There are no wolves in Radcliffe, Lucy); being kidnapped by evil Count Orlov (lots of evil counts in Radcliffe but they are not mentioned by Lucy); nearly being forced to marry Count Orlov twice; and being captured by Napoleon’s army, in addition to being trapped in a house fire. Fortunately for Lucy, Nikolai may not like her very much, but he does find time to rescue her every time, even though he’s supposed to be out on manoeuvres with the Tsar’s army at the time. It’s all a bit ridiculous and some of the historical facts are distinctly dodgy; and I’ve got to say that Jordan’s work for Harlequin Mills and Boon is about a million times better – a statement which, in itself, says it all. There are some romantic parts in there but Nikolai really isn’t very nice – he’s cruel, overbearing, a bully in short – and, in his frequent misinterpretations of Lucy’s motivations and character – he’s quite frankly, a bit dim. It’s hard to see why Lucy falls in love with him at all.
I don’t know much about this publishing house (Columbine House) but they only seem to publish works by Jordan which is in itself suspicious. Is this a publishing house she dreamed up herself just to showboat the works that HM&B rejected? It’s a distinct possibility given the quality of the work (which is very, very poor). Definitely done in an off moment.
I don’t know much about this publishing house (Columbine House) but they only seem to publish works by Jordan which is in itself suspicious. Is this a publishing house she dreamed up herself just to showboat the works that HM&B rejected? It’s a distinct possibility given the quality of the work (which is very, very poor). Definitely done in an off moment.
July 4, 2014
Caroline Courtney is one of my favorite romance authors. I love her work because there are a few things I can depend on:
1) Victorian/Edwardian era--getting to know the "Ton".
2) Romantic, happy tales with adventure
3) A clean read--no sex scenes.
"Tempestuous Affair" is one of her different works because this takes place largely in Russia. Her main character in this work is broody and her heroine finds herself in unexpected places. I'll say this is one of her "darker" works, without it being overly dark.
1) Victorian/Edwardian era--getting to know the "Ton".
2) Romantic, happy tales with adventure
3) A clean read--no sex scenes.
"Tempestuous Affair" is one of her different works because this takes place largely in Russia. Her main character in this work is broody and her heroine finds herself in unexpected places. I'll say this is one of her "darker" works, without it being overly dark.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews