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Mary Lide

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Tanzanite
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Post by Tanzanite » Fri March 5th, 2010, 4:24 am

I have the tacky romance cover for Ann of Cambray. I think I have the third book in the series as but not the second. I may have Fortune's Knave as well. Haven't read any of them yet though...

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Post by annis » Fri March 5th, 2010, 6:21 am

Well, as I've discovered thanks to Ariadne, "Royal Quest" aka "Hawks of Sedgemont" is the third in the "Ann of Cambray Chronicle" trilogy, so you probably wouldn't want to read that without reading the others first:
1) Ann of Cambray
2) Gifts of the Queen

It's quite hard to get synopses of some of these books, but "Command of the King" is set in the Tudor period:
http://www.amazon.com/Command-King-Mary ... t_ep_dpt_3

I'm guessing that "Tregaran" and "Legacy of Tregaran" must go together, but can't work out the period. The caption on the cover of "Tregaren" ssys rather breathlessly
"A stunning Cornish saga of dark passions and rapturous love"-- maybe it's a bit Du Maurier-style Gothic? The woman on the cover looks as if she could be 20s or 30s period, but also possibly 19th century.
http://www.sella.co.nz/general/books/fi ... es/4t28s0/

Edit- tracked down a brief description of "Tregaran" - didn't do too bad with the period :)
"1928- ten year old Joycelyn Tregaran will learn that the Cornish estate, her inheritance, is going bankrupt. Her life is tangled with mysteries between 2 families the Tregarans and the Tregarns"

"Legacy" aka "Legacy of Tregaran" Maybe a prequel?
"Set in Cornwall before and during the First World War, taking us back into the world of the Tregarns and the Tregarans in the first years of this century".

On a roll here
"Isobelle"
"An exotic Victorian love story set on the North African coast. A beautiful woman of modest means is taken captive by a band of desert wanderers and soon falls deeply in love with the rugged sheik who is their leader". (This one might be a bodice-ripper!)
More at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Isobelle-Mary-Lid ... t_ep_dpi_8


"Sea Scape" is another Cornish novel, this time with a Victorian setting
http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Scape-Mary-Lide/dp/0312077998


Btw, this is the Sphere edition cover for "GIfts of the Queen"- don't know if you want that for Good Reads as well?
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/mar ... -queen.htm
Last edited by annis on Fri March 5th, 2010, 7:11 am, edited 14 times in total.
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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri March 5th, 2010, 12:27 pm

My editor Barbara Daniel, back then Barbara Boote at Sphere was Mary Lide's editor for these novels in the UK. When I see her for a social, I'll ask her about the author and the books and report back anything of interest.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Post by Misfit » Fri March 5th, 2010, 12:43 pm

Thanks Annis. I might have to try a couple and I don't let those 70's/80's bodice ripping covers scare me. There can be quite a treasure behind them sometimes.
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Post by annis » Fri March 5th, 2010, 5:10 pm

Posted by EC
My editor Barbara Daniel, back then Barbara Boote at Sphere was Mary Lide's editor for these novels in the UK. When I see her for a social, I'll ask her about the author and the books and report back anything of interest.
Thanks, EC. I don't know about some of the other titles, but it seems to me that the Ann of Cambray Chronicle trilogy would make great material for a reissue. The history seems pretty authentic, and there's plenty of action, romance and strong characterization- I thought she did a good job with Henry II and Eleanor.

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Post by Misfit » Fri March 5th, 2010, 8:19 pm

I've requested Isobel from the library as well as an ILL for one called Fortune's Knave. Found some info and reviews for that on Amazon and it appears to be about William The Conqueror starting from age six.
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annis
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Post by annis » Fri March 5th, 2010, 10:53 pm

"Fortune's Knave" is apparently about William's childhood, youth, courtship of Matilda and early married life. As far as I can tell it doesn't go very far past that point. I was intrigued to see that Mary Lide writing as Mary Lomer also wrote a novel about Wm's parents, called "Robert of Normandy". I've got both coming and will be interested to see what they're like.

Btw, I recommend John Wingate's novel "William the Conqueror" --it's probably the best one I've read about Old Bill.

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Post by Amanda » Sat March 6th, 2010, 9:12 pm

[quote=""annis""]
Btw, I recommend John Wingate's novel "William the Conqueror" --it's probably the best one I've read about Old Bill.[/quote]

I really liked that one too. It covers all his life. I remember having it on my shelf for a long time, but passing over reading it because I thought the cover was a bit "blokey", and that it was going to be battle centered. But I was suprised when I did start reading it.

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Post by Misfit » Fri March 12th, 2010, 9:30 pm

I have Isobelle out from the library and unfortunately the stickers are all over the front so I can't scan the cover, nor find one anywhere on the net. Here's the lengthy blurb from the inside jacket,
Across the shimmering desert sands comes a story of love and adventure, a story as passionate as a woman's hidden fantasies and as mysterious as the secrets of the harem. By award-winning author Mary Lide, Isobelle is a rich, romantic tale woven to capture both the imagination and the heart....

It is the story of a young Victorian girl, Isobelle, the sole survivor of a terrible ship-wreck, whom fate deposits like a lovely bit of flotsam on the wild Barbary Coast of North Africa. Here, she will find herself sweeped up by a caravan of desert raiders and taken into a world closed to Western eyes. Far from the land and the people she knows, she will need all the courage and ingenuity at her command. For more than her life is in danger....

Enslaved, traded for gold, and carried to the mysterious Castle of the Lord of the High Tigran - a clan of fierce Berber fighters - Isobelle would be wrapped in silks, perfumed by sandalwood, and rouged with henna. But she vowed to die rather than submit to the chieftain she had heard called only "The Master.". Arrogant, robed in black and astride a black horse, he had saved her from the slavemaster's sword and now was coming to claim his bounty. But then - his laughing green eyes revealing a heritage European as well as Eastern - he reached out to her with gentleness, not force. And he promised to teach her all the delights of love, to show her the four doors to passion - and answer her newfound desire with all the heat of the Sahara sun.

In a violent land of blood feuds and conquering tribes, he was a leader determined to bring his people out of primeval darkness and preserve their freedome in a changing world. Then, when he saw the spirited, long-haired Isobelle, kismet touched his very soul. She was a woman who knew nothing of flashing scimitars and vengeance, a woman who could share his dreams and his future.

But within the castle walls was waiting a rival whose cruel conspiracy was plotting Isobelle death. And even as she felt the first stirrings of desire, the chill of danger told her it was madness to love this Berber king...yet impossible to ignore the call of destiny and the wild promise of this primitive land.
Now my question is is there is also a book by her called The Diary of Isobelle and the book I have, Isobelle, is also in diary format. Are they a series or same book, different title? I've found two covers for Diary of Isobelle.
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Post by annis » Fri March 12th, 2010, 10:06 pm

I'm 99 percent sure that they are the same book, Misfit- I think i saw synopses of both when I was checking out ML's books earlier, and I see that Bookfinder has them listed together under the same heading:

Isobelle
by Mary Lide
Softcover, Grand Central Pub, ISBN 0446389498 (0-446-38949-8)
More editions of Isobelle:
The Diary of Isobelle: Softcover, Grafton, ISBN 0586073906 (0-586-07390-6)
The Diary of Isobelle: Hardcover, Grafton, ISBN 0246131888 (0-246-13188-8)
Isobelle: Hardcover, Grand Central Pub, ISBN 0446512680 (0-446-51268-0)

It's annoying when that happens- luckily I discovered that ML's "Royal Quest" and "Hawks of Sedgemont" were one and the same book before I accidentally bought it twice!

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