Time's Fool
" ."Foreign Titles:
Duello D'Amore Italian
Spielball der Zeit German
Synopsis:
It is not, however, a happy homecoming that awaits the captain. Rossiter is shocked to find his fortune lost, his father accused of fraud, and his family name disgraced entirely. Worst of all misfortunes, Lady Naomi's family has dissolved the engagement, and the lady herself is of no mind to ask that it be reinstated.
Ousted by society and rejected by his true love, an enraged Rossiter vows to uncover what he determines must be the work of an unseen villain. A difficult but straightforward task -- straightforward, that is, until a sinister jewelled figurine and its disappearance draw the Lady Naomi into the dark vortex of conspiracy. And when the secrets begin to unfold, Rossiter is stunned to find that loyalty to his family may cost him his lady. The author whom Library Journal called "the superstar of period romance" introduces a new cast of sparkling characters in this first of The Tales of the Jewelled Men.
Alternate Synopsis:
Captain Gideon Rossiter, his handsome face pale from his war experience, returned to England after six years to find naught as he had left it. His father was accused of bank fraud, his family ruined and disgraced - and his betrothal to the enchanting green-eyed Lady Naomi Lutonville broken off by her disdainfull papa. Barely out of the schoolroom when he last saw her, she had been in his dreams ever since.
But Naomi, now the toast of London, had heard horrid rumours of Gideon's dalliance abroad and would have none of him... though her heart beat prodigiously fast whenever he was near. And though the gossips held his spirited lady to be a scamp and a flirt, Gideon strove in vain to resist her charms.
Yet first he was resolved to unmask the foul conspiracy behind his father's downfall. And when he and Naomi were imperilled by highway robbery and threats concerning a mysterious jewelled chess piece, the dark threads of intrigue and even treason woud have to be untangled before romance could truly blossom....
Foreign Synopses:
Italian
German
Doch als Rossiter englischen Boden betritt, erreichen ihn schlechte Nachrichten: Sein Vermšgen is verloren, sein Vater des Betrugs angeklagt und der name seiner Familie entehrt. Die Schlimmste Nachricht aber ist, da§ Lady Naomis Familie die Verlobung gelšst hat und Naomi selber nicht bereit scheint, diesen Entschlu§ zu revidieren.
Rossiter ist au§er sich und schwšrt, das geheime RŠnkespiel aufzudecken, das zum UnglŸck seiner Familie fŸhrte.
Main Characters:
Gideon Rossiter
Naomi Lutonville
August Falcon
Gwendolyn Rossiter
Jamie Morris
Katrina Falcon
Rating: (out of 5)
Reviews:
Quotes:
"Of course I shall not postpone," snarled Falcon, and meeting Kadenworthy's ironic glance, added in an undervoice, "fellow's got the nous of a newt!"
Intrigued, Morris asked, "Who has?" and peered at Kadenworthy. "Jove, but you're right. His nose does look rather like -- "
"I said nous, you silly block!" roared Falcon. "And I referred to you!"
"Did you, by Jove!" Morris turned to Kadenworthy, whose brown eyes suddenly were glinting with amusement. "My apologies, my lord. I thought he meant -- "
"Damn you, you thought nothing of the kind," said Kadenworthy. "And if you must know, Morris, my nose is often admired as being truly Roman."
Falcon snapped, "You have my unqualified permission to stand here and admire it, Morris ... "
Title Significance:
"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
Trivia:
- The title quote is from the same Shakespearean sonnet (116) as that of
Veryan's novel Love Alters Not.
- Introduction of the Squire and his cronies.
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