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Dawn
LOVE, PASSION, AND DECEPTION
Beautiful Madeleine Ardingley is shocked to learn that her beloved father is a liar and a cheat. The innocent, convent-educated girl is swept into the Parisian demi-monde and finds it not to her liking, though it appears to her cousin, Lord Janus Chilcote, that she is very much her father's daughter.
Two years later, Madeleine is forced to appeal to the charity of the family in England she barely knows. For Madeleine, Laycott Manor provided refuge from the taint of scandal she left behind in France. But the master of the grand English manor, is her cousin, Janus, and not even the luxury of Laycott Manor could disguise Janus's unpredictable behavior...
Her quiet dignity and gentle manners soon win their affections, and Janus, hungered for her, offered her marriage -- but Janus is as cynical as ever and turned her dream of rapture into a nightmare of jealousy and torment.
However, Madeleine is to discover that he is a truer friend than she had ever imagined... the shattering news of war in France... and Madeleine's obsession with the past -- a past darkly shadowed Janus's and Madeleine's new love....
Beautiful Madeleine Ardingley is shocked to learn that her beloved father is a liar and a cheat. The innocent, convent-educated girl is swept into the Parisian demi-monde and finds it not to her liking, though it appears to her cousin, Lord Janus Chilcote, that she is very much her father's daughter.
Two years later, Madeleine is forced to appeal to the charity of the family in England she barely knows. For Madeleine, Laycott Manor provided refuge from the taint of scandal she left behind in France. But the master of the grand English manor, is her cousin, Janus, and not even the luxury of Laycott Manor could disguise Janus's unpredictable behavior...
Her quiet dignity and gentle manners soon win their affections, and Janus, hungered for her, offered her marriage -- but Janus is as cynical as ever and turned her dream of rapture into a nightmare of jealousy and torment.
However, Madeleine is to discover that he is a truer friend than she had ever imagined... the shattering news of war in France... and Madeleine's obsession with the past -- a past darkly shadowed Janus's and Madeleine's new love....
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 12, 1980
3 people want to read
About the author
Tania Langley
4 booksTilly Armstrong was born on 8th April 1927 in Sutton, Surrey, England, UK. She was a born storyteller and used to tell made-up stories to her siblings at bedtime. She loved writing and was always trying to find enough time for this while pursuing an interesting career. She worked for a time with the World Health Organisation in Geneva, then in Canada for eighteen months and afterwards, back home, she became the Personal Secretary to the Chairman of British Steel, Lord Melchett. Writing success did not come easily, with many early disappointments, but she was very determined and kept on trying.
Tilly published her romance novels from 1978 to 1998, as Tilly Armstrong and under the pseudonyms of Tania Langley and Kate Alexander, her novels set in World War II were especially popular. Apart from over twenty novels she had published also short stories.
Tilly was the fourteenth elected Chairman (1987-1989) of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was one of its Vice-Presidents until her death. She negotiated the first commercial sponsorship for the RNA Novel of the Year award, from Boots. She was also President of Sutton Writers.
Retired from professional writing, Tilly took a keen interest in floral art. At 83, she passed away on 6th July 2010 at Carshalton, England, UK.
Tilly published her romance novels from 1978 to 1998, as Tilly Armstrong and under the pseudonyms of Tania Langley and Kate Alexander, her novels set in World War II were especially popular. Apart from over twenty novels she had published also short stories.
Tilly was the fourteenth elected Chairman (1987-1989) of the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was one of its Vice-Presidents until her death. She negotiated the first commercial sponsorship for the RNA Novel of the Year award, from Boots. She was also President of Sutton Writers.
Retired from professional writing, Tilly took a keen interest in floral art. At 83, she passed away on 6th July 2010 at Carshalton, England, UK.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 19, 2022
This book was a bit different, as not only was the h, Madeleine Ardingley, not an innocent young virgin (she had lived with a man for several months and was forced to abort his baby) but the H, Lord Janus Chilcote, didn't seem to mind (probably because, compared to his past, she was a saint) and decided to make her lady of the (Laycott) Manor. Instead of the couple working their way to each other, the book gets them together almost from the start. That, of course, can mean only one thing.
It doesn't take long for their relationship to unravel. It didn't start out romantic, as both used the marriage to gain back their lost respectability, and it was also a refuge for Madelaine, who wished to escape her unhappy past and all the events that lead up to it, which included a violent alteration with her former lover, Henri de Cavaillon, where he tried to rape her and ended up dead.
Though both Madelaine and Janus discover, soon after their marriage, that they have strong feelings for each other (though she recognized them as love before he did), this doesn't prevent them from having one misunderstanding after another (like when Janus refuses to buy her any jewelry, without explaining why, and she hires Jeanne Soubise as her maid, without telling him the reason, and the calculating young woman ends up sleeping with Janus). They drift further apart, both having too much pride to make a move toward reconciliation, and then the Franco-Prussian War leaves Madelaine trapped in France, where she gets involved with Robert, a physician from America, and Janus goes back to his previous wild lifestyle.
I'll leave off here, and let the reader find out the rest. It's a good story, but I felt that the emotional level between the couple was too low. There should have been more feeling and passion in both their arguments and lovemaking (which was supposed to be good, but wasn't descriptive enough to be convincing), as well as their moments of caring and tenderness.
Nothing's perfect, including this book, but it's still worth reading, and the historical background of the war, and the depiction of a city under siege, was an added bonus.
It doesn't take long for their relationship to unravel. It didn't start out romantic, as both used the marriage to gain back their lost respectability, and it was also a refuge for Madelaine, who wished to escape her unhappy past and all the events that lead up to it, which included a violent alteration with her former lover, Henri de Cavaillon, where he tried to rape her and ended up dead.
Though both Madelaine and Janus discover, soon after their marriage, that they have strong feelings for each other (though she recognized them as love before he did), this doesn't prevent them from having one misunderstanding after another (like when Janus refuses to buy her any jewelry, without explaining why, and she hires Jeanne Soubise as her maid, without telling him the reason, and the calculating young woman ends up sleeping with Janus). They drift further apart, both having too much pride to make a move toward reconciliation, and then the Franco-Prussian War leaves Madelaine trapped in France, where she gets involved with Robert, a physician from America, and Janus goes back to his previous wild lifestyle.
I'll leave off here, and let the reader find out the rest. It's a good story, but I felt that the emotional level between the couple was too low. There should have been more feeling and passion in both their arguments and lovemaking (which was supposed to be good, but wasn't descriptive enough to be convincing), as well as their moments of caring and tenderness.
Nothing's perfect, including this book, but it's still worth reading, and the historical background of the war, and the depiction of a city under siege, was an added bonus.
Displaying 1 of 1 review