Scent of Herbs - Hardcover

Woodhouse, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0712636633 ISBN 13: 9780712636636

Publisher: Arrow (A Division of Random House Group), 1990

Synopsis

In this sequel to "A Season of Mists" and "The Peacock's Feather" (which won the 1989 Romantic Novelists' Association Award) the year is 1803 and the setting is rural England, from where Dr Alexander French is about to embark for a new life in Bombay. Before leaving he returns to Norfolk.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

In A Season of Mists (1984) and The Peacock's Feather (1990), Woodhouse staked out a fictional portion of England's Norwich and surrounds for the mainly romantic adventures, circa 1800, of minor gentry. More of the same here, with most of the personae met in the earlier novels. The irascible Dr. Alex French, an army surgeon now back in the Norwich where he is respected and trusted, is still in love with young, lively widow Ann Gerard--who, here, is gamely soldiering on after a riding accident at her estate, Thorn, which is managed by the by-blow cousin she'd educated. Meanwhile, the neighboring estate, Blackow Hall, has a new and bizarre owner--elderly, red- wigged, oddly clothed Clodie M'Cool, usually seen magnificently riding huge touchy horses or trailed by packs of her dogs. She has a terrible temper--and she and Dr. Alex take to each other at once. Alex is fascinated by Clodie's restful, beautiful niece Julia, indifferent mother to eight-year-old Cassandra. In the midst of the community's bumbling preparation for the expected invasion by Napoleon, Cassandra is kidnapped--an event followed by a wild boat- chase, gunfire on a French beach, naughty Julia's flight (no surprise), and a highly contrived but jolly ending In a style at a gallop (with a few stumbles), an easy tale with likable characters, if a bit out of period in diction. But who cares? -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

A dollop of Dickensian melodrama and a generous measure of Jane Austen-ish matchmaking are the tasty ingredients of this first-rate historical romance, sequel to The Peacock's Feather . In 1803, as England braces for a Napoleonic invasion, crusty, lovable Dr. Alexander French, preparing to leave for Bombay, returns first to Norfolk to test whether he, like Pope's happy man, would be "content to breathe his native air." Still secretly longing for the lovely young Norfolk widow Lady Ann Gerard, he finds himself mesmerized sexually by mysterious newcomer Julia Hawksworth and strongly drawn to Julia's appealing little daughter and eccentric old Irish horse-trainer aunt. Country life and society, suspected French spies, runaway horses, a glorious lottery prize and a kidnapping followed by a chase over land and sea keep the reader happily turning pages.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow (A Division of Random House Group)
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0712636633
• ISBN 13: 9780712636636
• Binding: Hardcover