The Autumn Rose

by Fiona Hill

Book Overview

..".considerably more wit and pizazz than the legendary Georgette Heyer] herself." --Kirkus Reviews When Lady Beatrice, a marriage "consult" of wide renown, firsts sets eyes on her twenty-three-year-old protegee, Lady Caro, she is despondent. Too tall, too thin, too spunky, and almost "over the hill," Caro seems doomed to spinsterhood--until Beatrice conjures up an outrageous persona for the spirited Caro sure to set her off from the hordes of more...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039912280X
• ISBN13: 9780399122804
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 255 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A nice read

The blurb: When Lady Beatrice, a marriage "consult" of wide repute, first sets eyes on her twenty-three-year-old protegee, Lady Caro, she is despondent. Too tall, too thin, too spunky, and almost "over the hill", Caro seems doomed to spinstererhood--until Beatrice conjures up an outrageous persona for the spirited Caro sure to set her off from the hordes of more conventional and therefore more marriageable debutantes. Lady Beatrice's ploy--and Caro's considerable natural charm--work all too well, and soon Caro finds herself pursued not only by her reserved kinsman Lord Seabury, but by the irresistible roue Lord Mockabee as well. As London season reaches its glittering peak, Caro struggles to protect a friend's honor, preserve her own virtue, and win a love beyond Lady Beatrice's expectations. Fortunately, this was not another Ugly Duckling-turned-into-a-Swan story--with such vanities as shopping, fitting, and Almacks, etc. Ms. Hill only briefly touched on these, but instead concentrated more on the story line and characters development. She had a great ability to convey the whole plot in a smooth, flowing manner and with a wonderful sense of humor. Some reviewers compared her with Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, but I think I liked her better than Heyer--No one could top Austen, of course. I do have couple of criticisms, however: 1. I felt Lord Seabury's character, although was portrayed as honorable and righteous, but was a bit weak to me, kind of reminded me of Edward Ferrars in "Sense and Sensibility", but they both made up for it at the end. 2. The front cover of this hard-cover book. While the drawing of the setting was lavish and beautiful, but the appearance of the heroine was definitely not attractive looking and lack of the spirit as was portrayed in the book. Non the less, the writing was so good and story was so interesting, these two minor flaws did not dampen my grading at all. I enjoyed it...Very much.