[.ca] The Landlord's Black-Eyed Daughter (ISBN 159414575X)

Ride with the Highwayman:
The Landlord's Black-Eyed Daughter is a powerful historical romance with captivating storytelling that gallops across country to a thrilling conclusion. The curtain opens on a dispirited and corrupt late 18th century England, where redcoat Rand Remington has returned from the American war with wounds on his body and soul. Saddened at the poverty that has spread across the nation, he has taken up a career of crime, robbing the rich and giving to the poor as a highwayman. Into his life at one "stand and deliver" moment coachside comes Elizabeth Wyndham, a bold and fiery woman of thirty, using her pen to try to regain her family's ancestral home through her successful Gothic fiction similar to the popular Ann Radcliffe's. Both Rand and Elizabeth sense an uneasy but compelling connection that binds them in a mutual destiny. Rand has flashbacks to a battle five hundred years before. For Elizabeth, he seems to be the reincarnation of the "raven-haired knight," a brooding Byronic figure who troubles her books as he reinvents himself in plot after plot. Far from an ideal pair, the dark man has cheated on his mate, and she has betrayed him. But the details are lost in the mists of time. Elizabeth is pursued by an enamored nobleman with a police background, and greed and lust embroil her and her highwayman in deaths and misadventure as they try to escape capture and realize their dream of a life far away from the poverty and corruption of England. Dennis invests her characters with a rich, full-blooded stock. Rand is no superhero, but a complex human being who must pause for rest and entertain the occasional self-doubt. His "Bonnie Bess" may have the heart of a racehorse, but she too has normal fears and foibles. Even the villains arouse pity as they are led by human frailty and often pardonable motives. The chapters are steeped in fascinating period lore. Quirky details like the unethical arts of horse trading keep the pages turning. Quaint country dialect (sheep = woolbirds) adds to the realism. Authentic depictions of places like Newgate Prison contain powerful descriptions and a fine eye for architecture. Whether riding across the evocative moors or powdering a wig, the scenes are set with care. The madness of King George hangs over the political scene like a pall, and even the Prince of Wales makes an appearance in a very funny episode. Anyone familiar with Noyes' poem "The Highwayman" will spot the analogy and worry about the fateful ending. But Dennis, once again aided by her meticulous research, pulls off an artful coup at the end. This clever book follows in the grand tradition of classics like Forever Amber. Maureen O'Hara would have made a perfect Bess. As for Rand, only Errol Flynn would do.