The Wild Child

May 31, 1999
Lady Meriel Grahame, the eighth heroine in Putney's Fallen Angels series, has lived in a world of self-imposed silence since the night of violence in colonial India that claimed her parents' lives. Deemed mad by her guardian uncles (one good, one evil), looked after by two widows (both good), she lives a life of fey barefoot willfulness, making weedy centerpieces for the mahogany dining table and communing with the animals who roam the gorgeous grounds of her ancestral home, Warfield. Lord Grahame, her evil uncle, would like to see her locked up in a mental asylum (Putney dwells on the horrors of early 19th-century "modern" psychiatry), but her good uncle, Lord Amworth, thinks a wedding and bedding might cure her--and the time is now, while Grahame is out of the country. Since infancy, Meriel has been pledged to Kyle Renbourne, Lord Maxwell, the future earl of Wrexham. Heart-bound to escort his dying mistress home to Spain, Kyle dispatches his twin brother, Dominic, to court Meriel in his place. The novel is most enjoyable precisely where it's most predictable, and it's in the all-consuming attraction, body and spirit, between Dominic and Meriel that it reaches its peak. Allowed unthinkable liberties, Meriel paints henna designs on Dominic's trembling torso, laughs at his morality and offers up an irresistible bargaining chip: if she may have his body, he shall hear her voice. Her words may lack the eloquence of her silence, and the second half of the novel is altogether the weaker, but there's satisfaction for readers who like to see villains die and everyone else live happily ever after. Author tour.

August 1, 1999
When Dominic Renbourne agrees to impersonate his twin brother, Kyle, and secure Kyle's engagement to wealthy heiress Meriel Grahame, he is prepared to deal with a woman rendered deranged and mute as a result of her parents' murder in India and her subsequent abduction. What he finds, however, is an enchanting, fey creature who tranquilly drifts through her own world of flowers and gardens cared for only by her Indian man-servant and a pair of elderly widows. Intrigued and attracted by her social withdrawal, Dominic sets out to help her become a part of the real world and, in the process, falls in love. Skillfully dealing with the issues surrounding mental illness and the lack of women's control over their own lives in the 19th century, Putney (One Perfect Rose) spins another gripping, well-crafted story that readers are sure to request. Putney has won two Ritas and lives in Baltimore.

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2000
YA-Identical twins Kyle and Dominic were close as children but have grown apart as young adults. Thus, Dominic is surprised when Kyle asks him to temporarily take his place courting Lady Meriel, who is rumored to be mad. Wealthy, beautiful, gentle Meriel was orphaned and severely traumatized in Indian riots as a small child. Raised by caring elderly relatives on an isolated, large British estate, she doesn't speak until Dominic (masquerading as Kyle) patiently brings her out of her shell. The young man is recovering from the horrors of Waterloo. A shorter subplot shows Kyle taking his true love, his dying mistress, to her home in Spain for burial. Putney depicts high society, the problems of women, and the insane of Regency England. She is at her best with characterization: readers watch many people grow and relationships change in a relatively short time. With lots of romance, some comic touches, a villain, and a touch of mystery, this novel provides good entertainment.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.