Als stolz und eigenwillig gilt Lady Diana, eine der faszinierendsten Schönheiten der Londoner Gesellschaft. Ihr Auftreten erregt den Neid der Damenwelt und die uneingeschränkte Bewunderung der Herren. Doch keinem ist es bisher gelungen, Lady Dianas Liebe zu erringen, da sie zu wahren Gefühlen nicht fähig zu sein scheint. Erst in Ian trifft sie auf eine gleich starke Persönlichkeit. Zwischen den beiden beginnt eine seltsame Beziehung, die gleichermaßen von Haß und Leiden schaft geprägt ist...
Born 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
Very good historical romance. The descriptions of her clothing and scenery made me feel like I was there. This is my first Bantam book, and although there was no elaboration on intimacy, it is a very memorable story. My only complaint: At only 152 pages, it was over way too quickly!
This one is okay. Strangely the other book of Dame Cartland I just read was written a year after this one and also features a fictional kingdom in the same region this one is set in.
Amazingly, the author even manages to recycle the same tribe of bandits who are supposedly notorious in the area! Wow, if nothing else she is consistent. And considering how prolific a writer she was, she would have written at least 12, if not more books in between these two, but she still managed not to muddle up her details! Amazing!
Story is cute enough, not as entertaining as i found the “Hell cat and the King. But its the same trope. The princess marries a prince from a fictitious land, He thinks she loathes him so he acts cold. She thinks he is uninterested in her because he was forced into the marriage.
Anyway all gets cleared up in the end and he fell in love w her at first sight. HEA.
Ok. Perdi as contas de quantas vezes já li este livro. Nem preciso dizer que é meu preferido...
Ilona Nandina estava há 10 anos longe de Dabrozka. Seu pai, o Rei, era um homem irascível. Quando as coisas não aconteciam do jeito dele, ele não pensava duas vezes em tomar medidas extremas. Por causa desse seu temperamento, sua esposa acabou partindo, fugindo dele. Ela havia sido espancada pelo marido vezes sem fim, chegando até a perder a consciência, mas quando o rei fez isso com Ilona, a rainha sabia que era hora de fugir. Dando a desculpa que iria visitar os pais, que já eram velhos, ela partiu. De lá, seguiu para Paris, onde viveram escondidas. Não tinham luxo. A rainha e sua fiel empregada, Magda, trabalhavam como costureiras. Alguns amigos da família, em sua maioria muito velhos, faziam companhia. A maior parte do que ganhavam ia para pagar a escola de Ilona, que estudava como qualquer garota normal, sem que soubessem de seu título Real.
Viveram o inferno durante o cerco de Paris. Passaram fome. O frio matou a rainha. Logo após a morte da rainha, Ilona recebe uma comitiva de seu país. Seu irmão, Julius, o herdeiro ao trono, havia sido morto e o rei precisava de alguém de seu próprio sangue para ser seu herdeiro, mesmo que fosse uma mulher.
A situação em Dabrozka era desesperadora. O povo não estava feliz com os desmandos do rei e suas leis. Estavam divididos entre as famílias Radak (do rei) e Saros. A solução encontrada para apaziguar e debelar a invasão russa seria o casamento de Ilona com o Príncipe Aladar, dos Saros.
Ilona ficara sabendo pelo rei que Aladar era o responsável pela morte de Julius. No dia do casamento, o rei faz um showzinho particular para mostrar que era contra aquele enlace. Nos dias seguintes ao casamento, enquanto o casal de nubentes tentava transmitir ao povo uma segurança que não existia, ela e o marido viviam a guerra particular de milhões de mal-entendidos entre eles; e ambos eram orgulhosos demais para dar o primeiro passo.
Mas há a invasão dos russos de qualquer forma e Ilona tinha o plano perfeito para fazer com que seu marido fosse o herói da história...
Muita informação interessante sobre húngaros, prussianos, russos é passada ao longo da narrativa, em especial sobre os ciganos. E Aladar Sebastyen Ladislas é um dos meus mocinhos, de Ms Cartland, preferidos.
My first Barbara Cartland book. The characters yearn for one another alot through out this--its the usual cute cooky cutter ending by Cartland- Great for one hour reads or to waste time
Ilona knew what it meant to be alone. Knew how it felt to be hungry, mistreated, defenseless.
But now Ilona was going home. All the hardships of exile were behind her. She was going back to Dabrozka, the tiny kingdom whose throne would someday be hers. She was returning triumphant--the beloved Princess of a proud and independent people who needed her desperately.
Ilona was Dabrozka's last hope for salvation. She alone could save her subjects from donimation if she married a man who despised her. A man with whom Ilona was already falling wildly in love.