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Once More with Feeling Series: The Emerald Necklace by Diana Brown
 | The Emerald Necklace Diana Brown Signet Regency 1981 Rating: B+ |
"Lady Leonora Fordyce finds herself involuntarily engaged and subsequently married to a man not of her selection nor to her taste. Etienne St. Clair Lambert is a financial upstart, a self-made man, an unabashed Cit. He is untitled, and even worse, illegitimate. He is also the only man with the money and inclination to save Lady Leonora's father, the Earl of Castleford, from the pit of debt he has gambled himself into. Lambert agrees to pay Castleford's encumbrances and provide him with an allowance in exchange for Leonora's hand in marriage.
Leonora is against this bargain from the very beginning, but the other choice - seeing her father in Newgate - is even less appealing. She agrees to Etienne's proposal, but she makes absolutely no effort to make lemonade out of this awkward situation. She snubs Etienne. She points out his low beginnings and status. She continues to see an old flame on the side. She is cold to Etienne sexually. Basically, she's a beastly snot. All the while Etienne gives her a tremendous amount of support, understanding, and latitude. He forgives her for her snobbery and showers her with presents and caring. She doesn't care. She continues her bad behavior until she finally does the one thing that turns Etienne's warm regard to ashes. And then, only then, does she realize how much his regard meant to her.
It is a testament to Diana Brown's writing abilities that I liked this story, since it involved a number of situations that I usually abhor. Stories that hinge on gambling losses and inveterate gamblers usually make me nervous. I dislike long separations, and I find plots that are driven by misunderstandings tedious. This book had all three of these situations, but all of them were handled so adroitly and naturally that they never detracted from the love story nor from the story of Leonora's transformation from haughty society doll to caring and loyal human being.
There are no villains in this story, only flawed (sometimes very flawed) individuals. Because it is a character drama, Etienne and Leonora's conflicts are the results of the decisions they make. Those decisions are quite often so frustrating that you want to shake both of them, but they always, always seemed in character. Leonora's dishonest, ungracious, and proud behavior in the beginning of their marriage molds the relationship into one of bitterness, wounded feelings, and distrust. Once the roles are set, both Leonora and Etienne continue to act them out until essentially they are hostile strangers who do not even live together. And even when they give into their emotions and have a tender moment, it shatters the instant they realize their vulnerabilities. But theirs is no easily solved misunderstanding; it's not the kind that can be resolved with one good conversation. Lack of trust mutates every attempt at communication, and until they can learn to have faith in each other again, they cannot have a marriage.
Brown's writing is not exactly spare, but each word has a carefully chosen quality, so there is no excess description or superfluous, repetitive emotion. The story is narrated from Leonora's point of view in the first person, and occasionally it had a gothic feel to it, as if she were telling it during the latter part of her life, looking back, seeing clearly, and regretting her actions. The reader is never privy to Etienne's thoughts, but his feelings are clear from the honeymoon on. He's completely, utterly smitten by Leonora. His good character and tender care of his wife make Leonora's early indifference all the more difficult to read. It's hard to watch her throw away something of infinite value, but all the more satisfying when she eventually earns back that love and consideration.
The Emerald Necklace is just the kind of Regency Romance I like. It focuses on the characters and how they develop and grow. Brown avoids the repetitive emotions, lust think, and excessive drama of today's regencies and instead tells a quiet, tender story of a relationship broken by dishonesty and repaired by selflessness. I only wish there were more of these kinds of Regencies being written now, but since there are not, I will simply have to content myself with Brown's backlist, brief though it is."
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This book is out of print, but available cheap at amazon.com.
Lovely review. I didnt like it as much as you did, it was a B- read for me
since I just wanted to slap Leonie too many times.