The Love Knot

by Charlotte Bingham

An intriguing, romantic bestseller about the Victorian politics of love and marriage which follows the fortunes of three very different young women.

Beautiful Leonie, brought up by foster parents, receives a surprise from her wealthy godmother and is sent to work at a private nursing home. Dorinda sails from France without her wastrel husband and becomes a celebrated member of London's demimonde ; and Mercy is saved from social ignominy by an older man with whom she falls passionately in love. The love knots that they all face in their relationships finally unravel, but not before hearts have been broken, and scandals risked.

Genres: Historical Fiction

544 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

The Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, UK. Her father, John Bingham, the 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright. Charlotte first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, she went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket. She wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by Heinemanns and was a best seller.

In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, called Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. In 1972, Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography, was published. This talked about the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. They couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. She and her husband, Terence Brady, wrote three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs together, Board Wages, I Dies from Love and Out of the Everywhere. They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s they continued to write for the occasional TV series, and in 1993 adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the small screen. Since the 1980s she has become a romance novelist. In 1996 she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Reviews

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slow moving story in the braided style, The Love Knot, tells the story of three women and their immediate families in England in the later years of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century and their so called 'place' in society. It details not only the social etiquette of the upper classes and the working classes and the differences between them, but it also details the divide between families and their friends and neighbours within each strata of society. Some historical facts are also featured, but these are mainly to set the story into a time frame.

This is not directly a feminist book, but shows how different women act and react to the 'rules & regulations' of the time.

[Outlander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Late 19th century romantic stuff, loads of information on what was and what was nor acceptable behavior in that era. As usual there are details of dress, code of conduct, etc and, if it's 'your thing' then you will enjoy it. This is a Charlotte Bingham I struggled to finish as I found it to be predictable, but I did finish it.

[Deniz · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow really wow
i loved reading this book, it was something quite different from what im used for reading but nevertheless was an enjoyable experience !
i loved following Mercy story she was the one who moved me the most and Mrs Dorinda olalala que dire !
Loved the ending !!!

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

A somewhat worthy attempt to bring the romantic novel into the 20th century. It does not have the light touch of a Georgette Heyer or the likeable and believable characters of later writers such as Katie Fforde who has made us smile into the 21st century

[Leanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting tale of the intertwining lives of women in Victorian England. A pretty piece, but a bit dated.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed this book! It left me wanting more and I was totally immersed in the lives of the characters.