One Moonlit Night

November 30, 1998
James's newest is a nicely written, unabashedly old-fashioned Regency with strong dollops of sensuality, achieving a higher standard than her previous book (Every Wish Fulfilled). Olivia Sherwood, an impoverished vicar's daughter, is forced to go into service at Ravenwood Hall after her father's death makes her the sole source of support for her blind sister, Emily. The dark and dangerous Gypsy Earl, Dominic St. Bride, who has recently arrived to claim his birthright and ingratiate himself with the people of Stonebridge village, falls in lust (which swiftly becomes love) at first sight with the beautiful, russet-haired Olivia. St. Bride, a tormented Heathcliff-like character, is every dedicated genre reader's dream hero, and, although outwardly prim and proper, Olivia is nonetheless a feisty, winning heroine. Nasty anti-Gypsy prejudice threatens both St. Bride and Olivia, but she comes through to save the day (and their lives) in a satisfying climax. A secondary romance between blind Emily and the Gypsy horse trader, Andre, is also well drawn and complements the main story line.