Forbidden Treasure

by Leona Karr

Beautiful and unconsciously alluring , young Alysha wanted nothing to do with the hedonistic passion that had ruled her mother's life. Then a carriage accident left her stranded at a lavish French... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843927070
• ISBN13: 9780843927078
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Banner of Truth
• Length: 361 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The book is highly entertaining and captivating.

Alysha is a beautiful young woman, who lives at a boarding school in Switzerland. Her manners are chaste and stoic because she was brought up by the nuns at the boarding school. She never ever had a nice familial environment since she was six-years-old because her father died then due to sickness and her mother flirted too much with men since then. Alysha disliked and avoided her mother since that time because her mother hardly ever paid attention to her, except her mother's one particular beau. So, Alysha was transferred to the boarding school at the age of twelve and she finally a decent and safe living with the nuns, who taught her proper lady-like manners. As a yound woman, she helps Annette, her ten-years-old school mate, with studies and befriends her. However, the nuns figure out that Annette feels home-sickness and, thus, she must be sent home to France. The nuns ask Alysha to do a favor for them by accompaning Annette to her home. Alysha does this gladly, yet Annette is afraid to go home because she is terrified of her uncle. During a train ride, Annette tells Alysha about her family secrets for the first time. Annette tells an absurd crime story, which Alysha is not sure to believe it or not. On the other hand, she assures Annette that everything will be all right, but she cannot that she will stay with Annette forever. Alysha only plans to spend at the castle only one night and go to Paris on the following morning to seek a job as a seamstress. Upon the arrival, she meets Annette's uncle. He appears to be approximately thirty-years-old and handsome. So, Alysha wonders whether to believe Annette's story about her uncle committed a crime or not. The local people seem to respect very much that gentleman and he haven't ever being arrested. Yet suspicions arise in her private thoughts, after she has gotten into an accident on their to the castle. She has almost injured herself after she has fallen from a carriage due to a mad horse. Luckily, she is able to recover from the accident. This means that she must remain at the castle a little longer and depend on Annette's uncle's hospitality because he is a master of the castle. During her stay at the castle, a series of strange events follow. Some mysterious robbers have stolen the rare treasures from the castle. Alysha, unfortunately, is a stubborn woman and she has become too involved in the Annette's family matters, despite the master's warning. As a result she becomes a suspect of the robbery during an investigation and she cannot get sufficient rest due emotional stress. She feels confused about her feelings toward the master of a castle; she either loves him or mistrusts him. She feels lonely during her first days at the castle and becomes involuntarily a spy because she wants very much to figure out who are the real robbers. She mistakenly accuses the master of a castle as a robber, but she finds out later that

This book is for anyone, who wants to be well-entertained.

I find this novel about a romantic nineteen-year-old girl to be very enjoyable and interesting. The novel takes place mostly in a rural France and in a large seventeenth-century castle. I would describe the setting to be very romantic, beautiful, and picturesque. The girl is very brave, adventurous, pretty, funny, intelligent, and mature beyond her years. Above all, her character is worth admiration. Since the novel is written in a first-person point of view, a reader would involuntarily sympathize with the girl's inner voice, whenever she has a private moment with herself or tries to control her private thoughts in order to avoid revealing them to perfect strangers. The fact is the girl finds herself to be visiting a mostly strange place and strange people. Thus, she must be very cautious when dealing with new acquaintances. Eventually, she befriends a handsome master of the castle and becomes his wife in the end of the story. However, I have to warn you that the plot is intricate and following a chain of surprising events because the book is not just about romance and friendship. It's also about being able to face the enemies, to act like a detective, to solve the mysteries, and to help your own friend in a crisis. If you do like a bit of suspense in a book, then you would enjoy reading the book.