The Princess

Three remarkable women--friends from vastly different backgrounds who meet at Cambridge--vie for the heart of one of the world's most eligible bachelors, His Royal Highness, Prince Richard, Duke of Sussex. Reprint.

Brayfield ( Pearls ) invents a fifth sibling for the British royal family and proceeds to marry him off in a colorless, shallowpk novel. Prince Richard, a thoroughly decent chap who wants his life to have meaning and needs someone to love, would make a splendid cardboard cutout of a husband for any woman. He has his choice of three: Victoria Fairley, a fragile English rose from an aristocratic family; Jocasta Forbes, an American actress with a vocabulary even more vulgar than her lifestyle; and Martha Harley, a statuesque black Jamaican high-fashion model. Although Richard romances all three, Brayfield doesn't even pretend that Harley is a genuine candidate in the HRH wedding sweepstakes; only Fairley and Forbes are contenders, and the winner isn't crowned until the book's closing pages. Some anglophiles may enjoy details borrowed from real-life royals (for example, Richard attends Cambridge, like Charles and Edward); trivia experts may even spot a minor gaffe involving Diana's wedding gown. Might just as well hunt for the blooper--that's about as much of a jolly as this book offers. Doubleday Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Prince Richard, fictional second son of Queen Elizabeth II, must choose a bride from among the many women who love him in this clone of Judith Krantz from the author of Pearls ( LJ 6/15/87). The three major contenders for the position are former roommates and close friends. One is the daughter of a legendary Hollywood actress, one a Jamaican scholarship student at Cambridge, and one a typical Sloane Ranger and blueblood. All beautiful, wealthy, and well dressed, these women are fashionable to the point of poor taste. Much name dropping occurs ("Uncle Jimmy" Stewart has a cameo role), and casual sex, drug use, and violence are also here in abundance. Expect demand for this titillating commercial novel, the second from British newspaper columnist Brayfield. Doubleday Book Club main selection.
- Bettie Alston Spivey, Charlotte-Mecklenburg P.L., Charlotte, N.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.