The Riddle of the Shipwrecked Spinster

April 2, 2001
Prolific romance-adventure writer Veryan (The Riddle of the Reluctant Rake, etc.) engineers another delightful period escapade, set in Georgian-era England. Two story lines are neatly intertwined. One involves Cordelia Stansbury, who flees the country after her gold-digging mother dupes renowned dandy Gervaise Valerian into agreeing to marry the notoriously homely girl. Fleeing to Egypt, where her father digs up antiquities, Cordelia, is shipwrecked off the Cape of Good Hope and only rescued after she has spent a year in the company of savages, her reputation ruined. The other story line features Piers Cranford, a noble young man who takes on the responsibility of keeping his family estate afloat, leaving his about-to-be-wed twin brother in the dark about the many burdens he shoulders. Veryan embellishes the inevitable romance between Cordelia and Piers with deeds of subterfuge, tales of kidnapping, a high-stakes steeplechase and much identity shifting. The tale is enhanced with bits of historical information—in this case concerning the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellion during George I's reign, which attempted to restore the Stuarts to the British throne—but there is so much to be resolved in the deliciously entangled plot that the historical element only bogs down the tale. Veryan can be depended upon to turn out a creditable romance, and she delivers once again, supplying an uplifting moral—first impressions can be deceiving—to supplement the frothiness of courtship and affairs of the heart.

March 1, 2001
Possessing neither fortune nor beauty, Cordelia Stansbury seems doomed to spinsterhood until the machinations of her mother land her in a locked room with the rich and highly desirable Gervaise Valerian. He is forced to propose, but, aghast at what her mother has wrought, Cordelia runs away. When she returns after supposedly having been shipwrecked and living with savages for a year, Gervaise refuses to go through with the wedding. His uncle then attempts to force Piers Cranford to take his place, but Piers (the twin brother of Peregrine, hero of " Never Doubt I Love "[1995]) has his eye on a refreshingly straightforward young neighbor named Mary. This suspenseful Georgian romance echoes the richly evoked world Veryan creates in her Golden Chronicles and Tales of the Jeweled Men series, and will delight both Veryan fanatics and readers new to her books, and even though it takes place before the Regency era, Regency romances fans will also find it immensely enjoyable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)