Out of the Blue

by Charlotte Bingham

Florence Fontaine has still not recovered from a family tragedy when she discovers a strangely dressed young man asleep in her guest cottage at the Old Rectory. Against her better judgement she offers him breakfast, only to rue the day as she finds herself caught up in the resulting drama of his life. Florence's young and beautiful daughter, Amadea, is immediately suspicious of Edmund, as he appears to be called, fearing that he might be a fraud.

Against everyone's advice, Florence enlists friends and neighbours to help restore Edmund's now wandering mind and discover who he might be. As the mystery unfolds, it becomes apparent that Edmund's history is entwined with that of nearby Harlington Hall, but that his real identity is something quite other.

Florence and Amadea become united in their quest, an adventure that takes them into many pasts, not least that of the young man whom they are now dedicated to help. In doing so they are finally able to put the tragedies of the past behind them, repair their once disjointed lives, and embrace a new and happy future.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Historical, Fiction

439 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

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

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started with an open mind but the further I read the more unbearable this book became. I make it a point of honour to finish a book so I can review it fairly. The only reward in this case is I can move on to something (hopefully) better.

Take a bunch of regressive gender roles. Make everyone single and mildly depressed about it. Stir and when you finish each girl is with a boy. I mean I knew it was "historical romance" but I keep getting conned by the word "historical" and expecting something richer than just costumes and info-dump. In this case there is a lot of stressing how much more powerful and professional all the men are- the single, aging career woman is the bad-guy and is ugly to boot (everyone else of course is beautiful). Women are inherently wives, mothers or blank spaces waiting to happen.

Add in some grief about husband/father and son/brother who have died. Add in weird haunting stuff- which I would have forgiven given the desire to put someone in the wrong time period if it was done in a more interesting way not just funny language and costume and the opportunity to reflect on the essential timelessness of heteropatriarchy and how beautiful it is.


I tried hard to find a good point, eg when Amadea stops being completely selfish and quits her job in solidarity with Jamie, however within the story it just acted as a way to make her near the men and potentially more dependent on them. It was part of the book's overall agenda to devalue female careers and put "family" (ie the patriarchal capitalist version) on a pedestal.

I can't believe something like this was published as late as 2006!!!


I know a lot of people will like it, but this sort of stuff does a lot of harm. Please read something more progressive.

[Outlander · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual story from Charlotte, but I liked it very much and it left a little bit of mystery which I will not reveal, although I did guess what the mystery was before the reveal. I don't like to give too much away as spoilers can be just that, spoiling the reading - so just read the book. Good story, good characters, well paced and worth reading, so another highly recommended.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think my expectations affected the review. I thought it was going to be an exciting read, but I found it quite boring. There was so much repetition with Edward/Edmund/Josh that I just couldn't handle it.

[Cara Beeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me enthralled

I was captured from the start. Found it hard to put down, loved the characters. I always find Charlotte's books flow at a perfect pace for me and enjoy every minute spent with one.

[June Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

[Chris Peace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good plot, very different and enjoyed it. It is 443 pages long and I feel could be cut back. Unnecessary and irrelevant padding out.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This didn't go where I thought it would - to fantasy. The characters were fun and the breezy plot eventually picked up and redeemed itself but the ending left a lot of questions unanswered for me.

[Soren Chargois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an easy and enjoyable read. I really liked it up until about 2/3 of the way through, and Charlotte chose to bring in some dark magic including hypnosis and possession by spirits, and subsequent exorcism. I personally began to enjoy it less and less as it went on. However, the ending is wonderful, albeit abrupt. It definitely markets itself as a romance novel, which it isn't.

[Beatrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the idea, but some parts weren't communicated in a too complex way.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this when I first started reading it but sadly I felt it didn't quite live up to them the more I read. Just an okay read.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just plain bad.

[Charlie Trafford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why did I say anything, only an update folks, but two stars at the moment!

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice light reading...as with most of her books

[Rita Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful story from Charlotte Bingham which has you believing in the supernatural. Very readable.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy read, comes together slowly. Story line simple, but interesting.

[Aisha Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writer has tried a good attempt at creating suspense-mystery-thriller drama, entwined with past.