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A Runaway Star
When Gracila turned up her exquisite face to gaze at Lord Damien, he said in a trembling voice:
''For God's sake, do not look at me like that... you who are so pure, so perfect, so innocent. Now when I see you, I know that I must go away. Go away!''
She echoed: ''But I do not understand.''
''I cannot meet you anymore. It is wrong for you, and hell for me.''
Gracila longed to cradle his head in her arms. ''You have suffered,'' she murmured, ''but perhaps I can make you happy.''
''For God's sake, do not look at me like that... you who are so pure, so perfect, so innocent. Now when I see you, I know that I must go away. Go away!''
She echoed: ''But I do not understand.''
''I cannot meet you anymore. It is wrong for you, and hell for me.''
Gracila longed to cradle his head in her arms. ''You have suffered,'' she murmured, ''but perhaps I can make you happy.''
151 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 1978
2 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Cartland
1,566 books834 followersBorn in 1901, Barbara Cartland started her writing career in journalism and completed her first book, Jigsaw, when she was just 24. An immediate success, it was the start of her journey to becoming the world’s most famous and most read romantic novelist of all time. Inspiring a whole generation of readers around the globe with her exciting tales of adventure, love and intrigue, she became synonymous with the Romance genre. And she still is to this day, having written over 644 romantic fiction books.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 9, 2019
Let me just get all this emotion out, then I can write a rational review.
Okay, I'm calm now. *brushes dust off skirt lady-like-ly*
This was a very sweet, super fluffy-angst-y story about an innocent, unworldly girl and a far too worldly, cynical, disillusioned man.
Our heroine, is 19 years old and engaged to be married to a duke more than half her age. Too young to realise what that would entail, she is busy in her own world filled with books and daydreaming.
Okay well *cough cough*
(and also, I am not engaged.)
So the story starts off with Gracila finding out that her intended is actually having an affair with her step-mother, so she runs away from her home. She has no place to go to other than to their old butler's new employer's house. Millet, or Mitty as Gracila likes to call him, had worked at Gracila's house since before she was born, but her step mother turned him out of the house when her father got married. Mitty now works for Gracila's neighbour, a scandal-encircled, mysterious, Byronic roue that has not been home for 12 years - he had run off with the wife of a Duke and has been ostracised from polite society because of that - so he never came back - not even after his father died. (obviously, our hero. Oh how I love rakehell heroes.
)
Gracila convinces Mitty to let her stay in his employer's house as she has nowhere else to go. (I must add here how very amazingly Barbara Cartland writes. Her flow is so superb, so very easy to follow, and so natural. How each idea, each sentence connects to another, flows into another, is mind-blowing. I am so impressed, I absolutely adore the way she writes. Or wrote, as she is no more :( )
Mitty lets her stay as the Earl is not home, and because he has a soft spot for his little Gracila.
As it turns out, the Earl comes home the very next day, so Gracila is forced to hide in her room all day long, every day. One day, she is informed that the Earl has gone out, to look over his lands, and will come back late in the afternoon. So she is allowed to go out. She walks to a charming place in the woods near the house, complete with a pond and everything - where the Earl comes across her. Their meeting was the most hilarious, exciting thing ever! I was grinning all through those pages where she climbs up a tree to hide from him and - well, I won't ruin it for you, go enjoy it yourself :)
And so happens the start of an epic love story.
The Earl is a tortured, tired soul, weary of the world, come back to the place that haunts him, for sanctuary. He was so taken in by Gracila right from the beginning, by her innocence and her youth, and her naivety.
They fall in love with each other, but he cannot be with her because he doesn't want her to marry him and lead a life as an outcast of polite society, being scorned everywhere she goes, because of her association with him. I loved, loved loved how he does not kiss her at all, despite his intense attraction to her (read the blurb of the book), because he knows he cannot marry her. It was so sweet, so heart-tugging, that a cynical womaniser, well versed in the ways of females, wouldn't- *breaks off, starts crying*
It was so bitter-sweet, seeing their intense love for each other.
I wondered how Cartland would give them their HEA, the issues seemed a bit hard to get past. But she did it so beautifully. It was a cute, wonderful twist, a perfect end for a perfect book.
I also loved how she didn't abruptly end the book after said twist, and extended the ending - it satisfies us hopeless romantics, to have prolonged endings (which I know many of my Betty Neels-reading friends would appreciate).
Now that I'm done with my rational review, let me go back to expressing my deep, profound love for this book.
This book gets a 5/5 FOR EVERYTHING. I LOVED IT (like it wasn't already obvious. But seriously though, I loved it so much that I have to keep stating it again and again.)
I will definitely be checking out more of her books - I just hope I like them as much as I liked this one.
Oooh I forgot to add how I loved the clever references and quotations the characters used of Byron's poetry! It was so sweet and romantic <3 I had never been interested in poetry before this (to be frank, I am still not that into it), but Barbara Cartland quoted and ingeniously used enough Byron to interest me enough to make me want to go look up his poetry and start reading.
Okay, I'm calm now. *brushes dust off skirt lady-like-ly*
This was a very sweet, super fluffy-angst-y story about an innocent, unworldly girl and a far too worldly, cynical, disillusioned man.
Our heroine, is 19 years old and engaged to be married to a duke more than half her age. Too young to realise what that would entail, she is busy in her own world filled with books and daydreaming.
Okay well *cough cough*
(and also, I am not engaged.)
So the story starts off with Gracila finding out that her intended is actually having an affair with her step-mother, so she runs away from her home. She has no place to go to other than to their old butler's new employer's house. Millet, or Mitty as Gracila likes to call him, had worked at Gracila's house since before she was born, but her step mother turned him out of the house when her father got married. Mitty now works for Gracila's neighbour, a scandal-encircled, mysterious, Byronic roue that has not been home for 12 years - he had run off with the wife of a Duke and has been ostracised from polite society because of that - so he never came back - not even after his father died. (obviously, our hero. Oh how I love rakehell heroes.
)Gracila convinces Mitty to let her stay in his employer's house as she has nowhere else to go. (I must add here how very amazingly Barbara Cartland writes. Her flow is so superb, so very easy to follow, and so natural. How each idea, each sentence connects to another, flows into another, is mind-blowing. I am so impressed, I absolutely adore the way she writes. Or wrote, as she is no more :( )
Mitty lets her stay as the Earl is not home, and because he has a soft spot for his little Gracila.
As it turns out, the Earl comes home the very next day, so Gracila is forced to hide in her room all day long, every day. One day, she is informed that the Earl has gone out, to look over his lands, and will come back late in the afternoon. So she is allowed to go out. She walks to a charming place in the woods near the house, complete with a pond and everything - where the Earl comes across her. Their meeting was the most hilarious, exciting thing ever! I was grinning all through those pages where she climbs up a tree to hide from him and - well, I won't ruin it for you, go enjoy it yourself :)
And so happens the start of an epic love story.
The Earl is a tortured, tired soul, weary of the world, come back to the place that haunts him, for sanctuary. He was so taken in by Gracila right from the beginning, by her innocence and her youth, and her naivety.
They fall in love with each other, but he cannot be with her because he doesn't want her to marry him and lead a life as an outcast of polite society, being scorned everywhere she goes, because of her association with him. I loved, loved loved how he does not kiss her at all, despite his intense attraction to her (read the blurb of the book), because he knows he cannot marry her. It was so sweet, so heart-tugging, that a cynical womaniser, well versed in the ways of females, wouldn't- *breaks off, starts crying*
It was so bitter-sweet, seeing their intense love for each other.
I wondered how Cartland would give them their HEA, the issues seemed a bit hard to get past. But she did it so beautifully. It was a cute, wonderful twist, a perfect end for a perfect book.
I also loved how she didn't abruptly end the book after said twist, and extended the ending - it satisfies us hopeless romantics, to have prolonged endings (which I know many of my Betty Neels-reading friends would appreciate).
Now that I'm done with my rational review, let me go back to expressing my deep, profound love for this book.
This book gets a 5/5 FOR EVERYTHING. I LOVED IT (like it wasn't already obvious. But seriously though, I loved it so much that I have to keep stating it again and again.)
I will definitely be checking out more of her books - I just hope I like them as much as I liked this one.
Oooh I forgot to add how I loved the clever references and quotations the characters used of Byron's poetry! It was so sweet and romantic <3 I had never been interested in poetry before this (to be frank, I am still not that into it), but Barbara Cartland quoted and ingeniously used enough Byron to interest me enough to make me want to go look up his poetry and start reading.
January 4, 2021
.
This is my second book by this author and I have to say, I was surprised by how unsafe it was. At least for me. Technically there's no OW or OM stuff. But...
Twelve years ago Virgil (lord Damien) ran off with the neighbour's new Marchioness, Phenice. He was 19 and she 31 (although she told everyone she was 26). They lived a debauched life for six years till she left him for a even younger man. Then he traveled for 6 more years.
He is now 31 and Gracila is 19. I wondered if the author was trying to say something with this reversal of ages, but it just seemed to be a coincidence.
The MCs don't meet till 30% in (of a book that's only 150 pages), after Gracila has been hiding at his house from her parents and her groom to be. She found out something terrible about the man her step-mother wants her to marry and just had to run away.
Just after Gracila and Virgil meet, the story takes an entire chapter (and there are only 7 chapters total) to tell us all about how bewitched Virgil was by Phenice, the OW. How fiery passionate they were. How he fought duels for her. She was a complete narcissist. Then after she leaves him, he continues with the orgy parties and bedding many women on his travels.
I do feel for Virgil because I think he was totally manipulated by the OW. If he'd returned home after she left him instead of staying away till after his dad died, well maybe I'd have a higher opinion of him.
Honestly I felt kinda shell shocked after that OW chapter. It seriously killed the story for me. Because BC doesn't make any effort to show his growth from that time period. The man who Gracila meets doesn't resemble the kind of man who would live like that. And even worse, he gets a bad case of insta love. This is a man who has been brutalized by love. It made me doubt his sincerity.
Instead BC has him pushing Gracila away because he loves her too much to make her suffer in social exile with him (Society thinks him beyond the pale). He pays no heed to her when she argues against parting. Just runs right over her choices.
So by now I'm pretty sick of this idiot. He's done nothing admirable. He didn't even come home to reconcile with his father before he died.
It was super obvious how the author would get him back in the good graces of his peers.
I really just skimmed the end of the book because it was just syrupy sweet and blandly predictable. And there was no justice for Gracila's father.
So bummer!
This is my second book by this author and I have to say, I was surprised by how unsafe it was. At least for me. Technically there's no OW or OM stuff. But...
Twelve years ago Virgil (lord Damien) ran off with the neighbour's new Marchioness, Phenice. He was 19 and she 31 (although she told everyone she was 26). They lived a debauched life for six years till she left him for a even younger man. Then he traveled for 6 more years.
He is now 31 and Gracila is 19. I wondered if the author was trying to say something with this reversal of ages, but it just seemed to be a coincidence.
The MCs don't meet till 30% in (of a book that's only 150 pages), after Gracila has been hiding at his house from her parents and her groom to be. She found out something terrible about the man her step-mother wants her to marry and just had to run away.
Just after Gracila and Virgil meet, the story takes an entire chapter (and there are only 7 chapters total) to tell us all about how bewitched Virgil was by Phenice, the OW. How fiery passionate they were. How he fought duels for her. She was a complete narcissist. Then after she leaves him, he continues with the orgy parties and bedding many women on his travels.
I do feel for Virgil because I think he was totally manipulated by the OW. If he'd returned home after she left him instead of staying away till after his dad died, well maybe I'd have a higher opinion of him.
Honestly I felt kinda shell shocked after that OW chapter. It seriously killed the story for me. Because BC doesn't make any effort to show his growth from that time period. The man who Gracila meets doesn't resemble the kind of man who would live like that. And even worse, he gets a bad case of insta love. This is a man who has been brutalized by love. It made me doubt his sincerity.
Instead BC has him pushing Gracila away because he loves her too much to make her suffer in social exile with him (Society thinks him beyond the pale). He pays no heed to her when she argues against parting. Just runs right over her choices.
So by now I'm pretty sick of this idiot. He's done nothing admirable. He didn't even come home to reconcile with his father before he died.
It was super obvious how the author would get him back in the good graces of his peers.
I really just skimmed the end of the book because it was just syrupy sweet and blandly predictable. And there was no justice for Gracila's father.
So bummer!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2012
Cute twist at the end.
September 1, 2010
Nice light read that requires no brain power. Enjoyable.
September 13, 2019
What a beautiful fairy tale!
Mom loved this book so much! She could not put it down.
The set up for the story was interesting and was what started me and mom on the bolder slide of story reading.
The premises is that the heroine in engaged to a Duke and learns just dad before she is to marry him that he is in love with her step-mother. Her ste-mother more than returns these feelings. Are heroine feels she deserves better than being an excuse for them to see each other more so she decided the only way to stop the marrriage is to run away to her old the friend. A butler that use to work for the family before her step-mother cane along and let him go. The butler is now employed by the hero. The hero has been away from his home for many years due to a scandal. The butler agreee’s to hide her, but “bad” news the hero has come home, so not only must they hide her from the world but also from the hero.
And so biased of the premises the story starts and yes mom and I can say it is as fairy tale like as it sounds.
The hero and the heroine have amazing chemistry and mom wishes there were more premises like this, though mom does remember some premises similar to this. A reverse Cinderella story where a duchess or some high society lady has to leave home and disguises herself as a maid and has to hide in the lords house hold.
Anyway this is more than worth the read and we can’t wait until it get rereleased on kindle.
Mom loved this book so much! She could not put it down.
The set up for the story was interesting and was what started me and mom on the bolder slide of story reading.
The premises is that the heroine in engaged to a Duke and learns just dad before she is to marry him that he is in love with her step-mother. Her ste-mother more than returns these feelings. Are heroine feels she deserves better than being an excuse for them to see each other more so she decided the only way to stop the marrriage is to run away to her old the friend. A butler that use to work for the family before her step-mother cane along and let him go. The butler is now employed by the hero. The hero has been away from his home for many years due to a scandal. The butler agreee’s to hide her, but “bad” news the hero has come home, so not only must they hide her from the world but also from the hero.
And so biased of the premises the story starts and yes mom and I can say it is as fairy tale like as it sounds.
The hero and the heroine have amazing chemistry and mom wishes there were more premises like this, though mom does remember some premises similar to this. A reverse Cinderella story where a duchess or some high society lady has to leave home and disguises herself as a maid and has to hide in the lords house hold.
Anyway this is more than worth the read and we can’t wait until it get rereleased on kindle.
August 18, 2025
After reading about 6 or 7 of Barbara Cartland books, i started to get à fair idea of her writing style.
Yet when this one fell on my lap, that was Just " too much" impossible love romance for me.
Couldnt stand the over the top drama of Lord Damien who is so bitter in life and tortured.
I was thinking: " god you poor little bird!"
It isnt as if he is physically ill or poor. Or have starved of hunger for Half his life.
In comparison the female character Gracilia seemed to have it far worse. Since she has had to run away from her own home with no money.
Yet do we see her complaining?
Not once! The heroic silent type.
Double standard here: where men are allowed to complain And Not women.
And their meeting! Oh my! So unrealistic even by 1978 standard.
Then I thought . .. who is Lord Damien reminds me...of? ..Edward Cullen from Twilight of course!
Unsufferably moody And feeling like an outcast?
Annoying much? Yes!
Then the sweet "Saint" girl comes along to make it all better: " there! There! Cry me à river for the rest of your natural life, why dont you? "
As for Lord Byron quote, romantic? the guy Who jumped on all that moved? Who wanted to jump on his own half Sister?
Someone Who played with words all his life to turn all heads and to get all he wanted? But could never fully attached emotionnally to anyone?
The Romantic type? Nope!
I dont think So!
Yet when this one fell on my lap, that was Just " too much" impossible love romance for me.
Couldnt stand the over the top drama of Lord Damien who is so bitter in life and tortured.
I was thinking: " god you poor little bird!"
It isnt as if he is physically ill or poor. Or have starved of hunger for Half his life.
In comparison the female character Gracilia seemed to have it far worse. Since she has had to run away from her own home with no money.
Yet do we see her complaining?
Not once! The heroic silent type.
Double standard here: where men are allowed to complain And Not women.
And their meeting! Oh my! So unrealistic even by 1978 standard.
Then I thought . .. who is Lord Damien reminds me...of? ..Edward Cullen from Twilight of course!
Unsufferably moody And feeling like an outcast?
Annoying much? Yes!
Then the sweet "Saint" girl comes along to make it all better: " there! There! Cry me à river for the rest of your natural life, why dont you? "
As for Lord Byron quote, romantic? the guy Who jumped on all that moved? Who wanted to jump on his own half Sister?
Someone Who played with words all his life to turn all heads and to get all he wanted? But could never fully attached emotionnally to anyone?
The Romantic type? Nope!
I dont think So!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews