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The Slashed Portrait
It was said at Braithwaite Hall that when bagpipes sounded in the night, evil was abroad and death was near. Jody Parrish laughed at the legend until she heard the eerie music and knew...
- GenresGothicGothic Romance
223 pages
First published January 1, 1973
34 people want to read
About the author
Jeanne Hines
9 books10 followersaka Valerie Sherwood, Rosamond Royal.
Jeanne Hines was born on 1922 in West Virginia, USA. She grew up in a very traditional atmosphere, but she wanted more. "My family thought I'd be just like everybody else, get married and stop," says she. "I'm a real character. I'm not really like anybody I know.".
Jeanne worked as a reporter and fashion magazine illustrator, later she started to wrote gothic novels from 1973 to 1977, until, like other gothic author had to change to the emerging popular romance genre under the pseudonym Valerie Sherwood, and also as Rosamond Royal. She became a popular romance author of five chunky bestselling historicals, including Bold Breathless Love, Her Shining Splendor and This Loving Torment (six weeks on the New York Times paperback best-seller list).
"I write in great creative bursts-not every day," she trills "inspiration strikes in short bursts of ten or twenty pages or through the night till the dawn comes up-with such formidable force that she is forever wearing through her typewriter keys". Furthermore, she doesn't believe writers who boast in public that they toil daily in disciplined routines, she says: "I think it has something to do with their taxes." She won the Romantic Times 1987-1988 Career Achievement Award in the category of "historical adventure".
When the today published author Chris Marie Green (aka Crystal Green), was 19, she wrote a fan letter to Jeanne, who answered her gushing missive and inspired Chris to write her first romance.
Married, she and her husband bounce among their five East Coast homes but spend most of their time in a fusty Charlotte. N.C., ranch-style house, surrounded by 11,000 research volumes (among them a sizable collection on witchcraft), "oodles" of never-worn dress-up clothes and six cats, who have a suite all to themselves.
Jeanne Hines was born on 1922 in West Virginia, USA. She grew up in a very traditional atmosphere, but she wanted more. "My family thought I'd be just like everybody else, get married and stop," says she. "I'm a real character. I'm not really like anybody I know.".
Jeanne worked as a reporter and fashion magazine illustrator, later she started to wrote gothic novels from 1973 to 1977, until, like other gothic author had to change to the emerging popular romance genre under the pseudonym Valerie Sherwood, and also as Rosamond Royal. She became a popular romance author of five chunky bestselling historicals, including Bold Breathless Love, Her Shining Splendor and This Loving Torment (six weeks on the New York Times paperback best-seller list).
"I write in great creative bursts-not every day," she trills "inspiration strikes in short bursts of ten or twenty pages or through the night till the dawn comes up-with such formidable force that she is forever wearing through her typewriter keys". Furthermore, she doesn't believe writers who boast in public that they toil daily in disciplined routines, she says: "I think it has something to do with their taxes." She won the Romantic Times 1987-1988 Career Achievement Award in the category of "historical adventure".
When the today published author Chris Marie Green (aka Crystal Green), was 19, she wrote a fan letter to Jeanne, who answered her gushing missive and inspired Chris to write her first romance.
Married, she and her husband bounce among their five East Coast homes but spend most of their time in a fusty Charlotte. N.C., ranch-style house, surrounded by 11,000 research volumes (among them a sizable collection on witchcraft), "oodles" of never-worn dress-up clothes and six cats, who have a suite all to themselves.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 20, 2020
Valerie Sherwood, the historical romance alter ego of Jeanne Hines, also wrote gothics, so when I got my hands on this, I had to wonder if the magic would be there too. The answer: pretty much.
A few qualifiers: the writing is dated, to be sure, but that's how things were done in the early 70's. Ignore the "oh"sand "why"s in front of dialogue (why, whatever do you mean?) and brace yourself for some serious spookage, with a touch of romance.
The seeds of the Sherwood historical romances are in this tale, especially with a tragic Gilded Age backstory that hangs over the stately Braithwaite Hall in the days before a wedding that shouldn't be. Why is our heroine, Jody, suddenly compelled to dress in yellow, a color she's always abhorred? Why also does she have the same scar as a tragic figure from a century past? Why is she falling in love with the groom, of all people? Throw in a missing heiress, a creepy child, some canny locals, and a crumbling old house I flat out love, and it's some darned good entertainment.
The romance did feel rushed, and I would love to read about the Gilded Age storyline, which hints strongly at the author's historical prowess. Historical or gothic, this author wrote a darned good story, and I will be hunting down the rest of her gothic ouvre.
A few qualifiers: the writing is dated, to be sure, but that's how things were done in the early 70's. Ignore the "oh"sand "why"s in front of dialogue (why, whatever do you mean?) and brace yourself for some serious spookage, with a touch of romance.
The seeds of the Sherwood historical romances are in this tale, especially with a tragic Gilded Age backstory that hangs over the stately Braithwaite Hall in the days before a wedding that shouldn't be. Why is our heroine, Jody, suddenly compelled to dress in yellow, a color she's always abhorred? Why also does she have the same scar as a tragic figure from a century past? Why is she falling in love with the groom, of all people? Throw in a missing heiress, a creepy child, some canny locals, and a crumbling old house I flat out love, and it's some darned good entertainment.
The romance did feel rushed, and I would love to read about the Gilded Age storyline, which hints strongly at the author's historical prowess. Historical or gothic, this author wrote a darned good story, and I will be hunting down the rest of her gothic ouvre.
Displaying 1 of 1 review