This book is marked 'general fiction' by my local lending service but what you get is a something written more in the style of a simple love story. Not quite Mills and Boon but not that far off. It seems that most of the characters have tears in their eyes at every opportunity, that all but 2 of the main characters are kind and gentle and that love conquers all. So far so perfect.
Still, it's not a bad story. In the mid-1930s a young girl, Mary, raped in adolescence, develops a crippling inability to meet and mingle with people. She stays on her father's farm, raising and training horses, until the local heir to a fortune comes by to buy a horse. He wants her as well as the colt and sets out to win her, even if it means overcoming her pathological shyness and suppressing parts of his natural character. They marry, and set up home in a large house, built for them by the young man's grandfather. However, all isn't well in paradise.
The marriage soon falls apart and the aftermath leaves Mary alone in the mansion with only the local priest allowed inside the house. Attempts to integrate Mary into the community fail as her shyness overcomes her. But Mary watches over the town from her mansion and learns about the residents from the priest. Unknown and unseen, she uses her fortune to help where it's needed.
That's about it, really, apart from a neat twist at the end. If you like gentle fiction in the tradition of Maeve Binchy then you'll probably like this. I'll remember it only because I wouldn't have chosen it for myself if I hadn't been misled by the cover blurb.
No comments:
Post a Comment