Lord Ravenscar's Revenge (#85)

by Barbara Cartland

Book Overview

On receipt of a desperate letter, demure young beauty Romara Shaldon rushes to the aid of her distressed sister Caryl, who has run away with the disreputable and cruel Sir Harvey Wychbold, who not... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553119591
• ISBN13: 9780553119596
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Bantam
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Interesting

Barbara Cartland surprises me with her topics. She does not gloss over violence against women or abandon the perception of morality associated with the Regency era. Our book begins with Romara (our heroine) arriving at the London townhouse where her sister Caryl resides. A cryptic note asking for help had drawn Romara from the country where she is mourning their father's passing. Caryl had run away with Sir Harvey Wychbold almost nine months before, much to the chagrin of her father (General Sir Alexander Shaldon). Wychbold is a rogue and not acceptable to the ton because of his tradesman background. Romara is met with the news that Caryl is expecting and Wychbold has not married her. Now, virtually a prisoner in the house, Caryl tells Romara of Wychbold's indifference and her fears for the future of (his) unwanted child. Romara confronts Wychbold, who has come home drunk and angry and he proceeds to assault Romara beating her with his fists, tossing her out the door and pushing her down the steps to the pavement where she lies unconscious. The battered woman is recovered by friends of Lord Ravenscar in the neighboring townhouse who promptly drag the bleeding woman into Lord Ravenscar's dining room. Having just been rejected by the beautiful woman he loved, Ravenscar had vowed to his friends that he would marry the "ugliest woman they could find" before the night was out. And so they found Romara, whose swollen face certainly makes her appear ugly, and having a gentleman-parson handy, the two are married. I was a little appalled by the ferociousness of Wychbold's attack and the callousness of the Ravenscar's friends but there would be no story without it. This is just the beginning. Romara awakens, and finding out she is wed, is afraid her new husband might be as cruel as Wychbold. But he is not. Dedicated to making the best of a bad situation, Ravenscar shows his truly kind self and helps Romara regarding her sister. Having served under Romara's father, he arranges for Wychbold to marry Caryl and then sends both sisters off to his country estate to recover. Caryl has her baby boy there. When Ravenscar arrives there, weeks later, he finds Romara, a lovely woman with a good character. She already has made his house a home and his tenants happy just like his beloved (late) mother. But Wychbold causes problems and eventually the sisters run away. Their adventure during this time is interesting. You wonder how this will all end with such a horrible villain. But our happy ending is achieved and of course Ravenscar realizes his revenge against the woman that led him on before marrying Romara has given him the greatest gift he could wish for. He has found true love and a wonderful caring wife, who he would have never met if all the terrible circumstances had not occurred. Cartland stories are too short and characters not fully developed to ever get a rating of 5 from me. Also all the "divine love" sort of drivel gets t

A marriage of inconvenience

This story is about what happens when you have too much to drink. Lord Ravenscar gets drunk with some friends one night and they convince him to marry, in their opinion, the ugliest woman in London. She's not really ugly. Romara was just beaten up by her brother-in-law. When Lord Ravenscar finally realizes he has a beautiful wife she runs off because her brother-in-law is going to take her nephew and sister, and she shot a man who tried to kidnap her nephew. She runs off and doesn't really expect Ravenscar to care that much but he is a stubborn man who might just fall in love with "the ugliest woman in London."

A REAL marriage of inconvenience

This story is about what happens when you get drunk. You end up getting married to a person your drunker friends consider "the ugliest woman in London." Actually Romara had just been beaten up by her brother-in-law and Ravenscar finally realizes she's not bad looking but by that time she's run off because she shot a man that her brother-in-law sent to take away his child (Romara's nephew). It gets really crazy in parts but all in all a fun and romantic read.