Rosamunde Pilcher: A Third Collection of Three Complete Novels

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate romantic page-turner !
Review: If you're not familiar with Rosamunde Pilcher yet, waste no time and buy yourself a sample of her spellbinding work ! It has it all : the warmth, the cosiness, the romance, and even the suspense. In "Under Gemini", meet sensible Flora, who discovers she has a twin sister she had never known about, the glamorous Rose, and suddenly finds herself in a whirlwind of deceipt, drama, confusion, and... love. And you will be mesmerised by "The Empty House" and "The Day of the Storm", two compelling stories about love and the pursuit of happiness. PS : The good news is : Rosamunde Pilcher has published lots of other novels and short stories : you have hours of cosy cocooning ahead of you !

Rating:
Summary: Lavishly romantic, 3 from the 1970s
Review: Three absolutely delicious tales from Rosemunde Pilcher, re-released but all with copyright dates in the 1970s. For the most part, the stories have aged well - though this is a different millenia, a different century, and certainly different times.

Under Gemini -- Improbability, coincidence and pure fate take center stage as identical twins separated at birth come upon their mirror image quite accidentally while in a London restaurant. After a night spent puzzling through the bizarre circumstances of their lives, jet-setting sister Rose takes off to Greece -- leaving her much more down-to-earth twin Flora to deal with a recently dumped fiancé. Somehow Flora is convinced to accompany the fiancé to Scotland to comfort a grandmother who is supposedly dying. The drama mounts, as does the dishonesty, and Flora finds herself living a life she never imagined. When the house of cards begins to collapse, will the friendships survive the betrayal? And, has the right sister fallen for the wrong man? A bit of a relic, but cozy as a cup of tea on a cold and windy Scottish coast.

The Empty House -- An anachronism in the form of a delightfully romantic fairy tale. From the cliffs of Cornwall to a near castle in Scotland, our not-so-modern-day fairy princess finds herself (at age 27) the widow of Prince Not So Charming. Despite the fact the deceased Prince was unfaithful and domineering and only married the young girl to achieve his inheritance, it is still a little tough feeling sorry for the Poor Little Rich Girl, who has never worked a day in her life (nor will she ever have to). Finally, she is free to be herself and she ships her young children off with Nanny to her mother-in-law in London. She then returns to the Cornwall coast and the memory of a few chance encounters of her 17-year-old self with a local farmer. Rejecting the comfort and pampering of friends, she leases a modest home near Porthkerris, fires the Nanny and reclaims her children. But can she do it? And can the combine man of the cozy hearth really win the heart of the Pampered Princess? This is an early Pilcher, with very idealistic (and out of touch) plotting but the heavenly glimpses of home and heart and her beloved countryside quite save the book.

The Day of the Storm -- After a very unconventional upbringing, Rebecca Bayliss has found bliss in her dull life working in a London book shop and living in a solitary flat she is slowly furnishing. For once she is in control of her life, and quite content. But her mother's latest lover writes that her mother is dying, and Rebecca must hurry to Ibiza. There Rebecca finally learns of her family in Cornwall and the famous artist grandfather she's never known but whom she feels compelled to inform of his daughter's death. The story is full of unusual coincidences (sometimes called fate?) and makes several abrupt turns before reaching a surprise of an ending. While Pilcher lavishly paints the background of her books, a map would have really been lovely in this one.

Rating:
Summary: Lavishly romantic, 3 from the 1970s
Review: Three absolutely delicious tales from Rosemunde Pilcher, re-released but all with copyright dates in the 1970s. For the most part, the stories have aged well - though this is a different millenia, a different century, and certainly different times.

Under Gemini -- Improbability, coincidence and pure fate take center stage as identical twins separated at birth come upon their mirror image quite accidentally while in a London restaurant. After a night spent puzzling through the bizarre circumstances of their lives, jet-setting sister Rose takes off to Greece -- leaving her much more down-to-earth twin Flora to deal with a recently dumped fiancé. Somehow Flora is convinced to accompany the fiancé to Scotland to comfort a grandmother who is supposedly dying. The drama mounts, as does the dishonesty, and Flora finds herself living a life she never imagined. When the house of cards begins to collapse, will the friendships survive the betrayal? And, has the right sister fallen for the wrong man? A bit of a relic, but cozy as a cup of tea on a cold and windy Scottish coast.

The Empty House -- An anachronism in the form of a delightfully romantic fairy tale. From the cliffs of Cornwall to a near castle in Scotland, our not-so-modern-day fairy princess finds herself (at age 27) the widow of Prince Not So Charming. Despite the fact the deceased Prince was unfaithful and domineering and only married the young girl to achieve his inheritance, it is still a little tough feeling sorry for the Poor Little Rich Girl, who has never worked a day in her life (nor will she ever have to). Finally, she is free to be herself and she ships her young children off with Nanny to her mother-in-law in London. She then returns to the Cornwall coast and the memory of a few chance encounters of her 17-year-old self with a local farmer. Rejecting the comfort and pampering of friends, she leases a modest home near Porthkerris, fires the Nanny and reclaims her children. But can she do it? And can the combine man of the cozy hearth really win the heart of the Pampered Princess? This is an early Pilcher, with very idealistic (and out of touch) plotting but the heavenly glimpses of home and heart and her beloved countryside quite save the book.

The Day of the Storm -- After a very unconventional upbringing, Rebecca Bayliss has found bliss in her dull life working in a London book shop and living in a solitary flat she is slowly furnishing. For once she is in control of her life, and quite content. But her mother's latest lover writes that her mother is dying, and Rebecca must hurry to Ibiza. There Rebecca finally learns of her family in Cornwall and the famous artist grandfather she's never known but whom she feels compelled to inform of his daughter's death. The story is full of unusual coincidences (sometimes called fate?) and makes several abrupt turns before reaching a surprise of an ending. While Pilcher lavishly paints the background of her books, a map would have really been lovely in this one.