Review: Long Meg and the Wicked Baron

Title: Long Meg and the Wicked Baron

Author: Pamela Hart

Publisher: 1st March 2022 by Escape Publishing

Pages: 130 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: women’s fiction, historical fiction, short story

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

From award-winning author Pamela Hart, a warm and witty Regency tale of second chance love.

Little Foxbury, Norfolk, 1818

Meg is in her mid-twenties, grief-stricken and all but on the shelf after the death of her beloved fiancé, John. The last thing she expects is an immediate attraction to Nicholas, Lord Ashham, newly arrived in their Norfolk area to take up the title of his departed father—who was, indeed, a wicked Baron. Artistic Nicholas is cut from a different cloth. Can Meg help him escape the stain of the past without damaging her own, spotless reputation, and become a bride at last?

My Thoughts

I am always up for a book by Pamela - I love her writing! Here she offers her readers such a sweet and fun Regency short story. I am not a fan overall of short stories as it's difficult to get invested in the characters, however, Pamela does a great job in Long Meg and the Wicked Baron.

‘Step by step he’d build a reputation here which would allow him to stand in the open with Margaret Deveny without destroying her reputation.’

Despite the obvious wishing it were longer and provided more detail, the story moves along at a good pace with highly engaging lead characters. Meg is thought to be a spinster and Nick finds himself judged because of the wickedness of his father (now deceased). Pam successfully captured an energy between the two which is commendable in such a short amount of writing. Of course there is the requisite small village gossip with all their prejudices and rumours to add highlights to this engaging tale. 

‘How wonderful it must be to want something so desperately! To know who you were meant to be, and strive for it daily.’

Long Meg and the Wicked Baron is a perfect afternoon read. A mutual attraction between the endearing heir, the forgotten maid with an artistic little sister providing the fun connection between the two. There is a lovely epilogue that rounds the story out nicely and makes for a satisfying if somewhat quick Regency fix. 

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The Charleston Scandal

Title: The Charleston Scandal

Author: Pamela Hart

Publisher: 24th November 2020 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 383 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: historical fiction

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

If you devoured THE CROWN you will love this exuberant story of a young Australian actress caught up in the excesses, royal intrigues and class divide of Jazz Age London, losing her way but reclaiming her heart in the process

London, 1920s: Kit Scott, a privileged young Australian aiming to become a star, arrives in the city to find the Jazz Age in full swing. Cast in a West End play opposite another young hopeful, Canadian Zeke Gardiner, she dances blithely into the heady lifestyle of English high society and the London theatre set, from Noel Coward to Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele.

When Kit is photographed dancing the Charleston alongside the Prince of Wales, she finds herself at the centre of a major scandal, sending the Palace into damage control and Kit to her aristocratic English relatives - and into the arms of the hedonistic Lord Henry Carleton. Amid the excesses of the Roaring Twenties, both Zeke and Kit are faced with temptations - and make choices that will alter the course of their lives forever.

Readers of Natasha Lester's A KISS FROM MR FITZGERALD will love THE CHARLESTON SCANDAL. Bestselling author Pamela Hart's energetic, masterful storytelling will have you glued right until the end.

My Thoughts

‘She’d yearned for a world where people could be themselves, even if it was only here, behind closed doors, among friends. But if she were herself would they like her? Or would she be too dull and respectable for them?’

One is always guaranteed a great read with a Pamela Hart story and her latest release lived up to expectation. Listening to a podcast, Pamela explained how it was time to move on from the war years and into the 1920s - it was time to celebrate! Pamela brilliantly captures all the glitz and glamour of the era along with the push to break with long held traditions. 

I enjoyed reading Kit’s story as she tries to break free from her upper class upbringing in Sydney to the stage and lights of London. Pamela introduces real time events and people such as Noel Coward and the Astaire’s from the entertainment side, to royalty with the Prince of Wales and his circle of friends, adding a real depth to the story. Kit finds herself torn between two lifestyles and two men representative of each way of living. Pamela perfectly portrays the hedonistic partying lifestyle of dancing and drinking but balances it with a more reflective aspect of cutting ties of past lives and ways of living. The ‘scandal’ itself is not simply the one off capture on film but rather, how women especially struggled to forge a new path from the ashes of war. 

Within this seemingly lighthearted tale, I appreciated the spotlight Pamela shone on issues such as the role of women, LGBT clubs, alcoholism and domestic abuse and the fictional likelihood of living the life of royalty and landed gentry. Testament to Pam’s writing is how seamlessly she interweaves all of the above to produce a complete and engaging tale. 

I congratulate Pamela for stepping away her war year novels and producing this compelling read of life after the war in London. It captures the emotions and perfectly portrays everything from the growth of fashion and music, to politics and social conventions. This is a wonderful tale of historical fiction that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

‘Zeke was right, and yet ... there was still a place for formality and etiquette in the world, wasn’t there? To make things run smoothly, the way they should. ‘All these rules,’ he said, leaning comfortably against the wall and watching the crowd with shrewd eyes. ‘They’re just to make sure you can exclude people who aren’t your class. That’s all etiquette is.’ There was truth to that. But surely there was more to it?

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Review: The War Bride

Title: The War Bride

Author: Pamela Hart

Publisher: 29 March 2016 by Hachette Australia

Pages: 368 pages

How I Read It: ARC book

Genre: womens fiction, romance, historical fiction

My Rating: 4 cups

Synopsis:

LOVE. BETRAYAL. NEW BEGINNINGS. A young English war bride makes a new life in Australia in this romantic story set on the stunning coast of Sydney, by the author of THE SOLDIER'S WIFE.

January, 1920. Young Englishwoman Margaret Dalton is full of excitement as she arrives to begin a new life in the warm, golden land of Australia. She leaves behind the horrors of WWI and can't wait to see her husband, Frank, after two years' separation. But when Margaret's ship docks, Frank isn't there to greet her and Margaret is informed that he already has a wife . . . 

Devastated, Margaret must swap her hopes and dreams for the reality of living and working in a strange new city. And just as a growing friendship with army sergeant Tom McBride gives her a steady person to rely on, news arrives that Frank may not have abandoned her. Where should Margaret's loyalties lie: with the old life or with the new?

My Thoughts

This was a very interesting read and for unexpected reasons. This is not purely a romance novel, there is in fact so much about life in Australia after the First World War that is rich in cultural and societal life. The main character of Margaret is most admirable in how she deals with her supposed abandonment. She is a strong and likeable character, caught between the old and new world and what her role in should be.

"He liked the way she was working to learn more, to be more."

Hart provides an abundance of detail and insight into how the world was at the end of World War One. She has provided characters and factual scenarios which makes reading about them most absorbing. There is a myriad of issues presented that, seen through our present day eyes is unthinkable, but were very much front and centre in the 1920s. She does an excellent job at portraying how times were indeed changing.

"It was a new way of thinking."

"Voting, surfing - was nothing forbidden to Australian women?"

(I particularly enjoyed the bathing suit dilemmas!)

Your current day understandings will be challenged - this is a great history lesson on life after the war and how the old ways were slowly changing but some things such as marriage and divorce were not. The difficulty in gaining a divorce and the impact upon the female were made that more real when a face is put to the story. The religious aspect is handled really well - I had forgotten the stories my mother used to tell me about Catholics versus Protestants:

"He's Catholic. You can't marry a Catholic."

Other social issues briefly touched upon include sex before marriage, child welfare, PTSD and homosexuality. Hart touched on them all. Very brave and well done in my opinion. For a narrative to worthily cover these issues and keep pace with the story is commendable. 

I loved reading about Sydney through the eyes of an immigrant, especially all Margaret's ferry rides, the learning to swim and the entertainment of the day. Be prepared for a range of Australian colloquialisms:

"Two shakes of a lamb's tail"

If I had a complaint it would be twofold. It was at times a bit repetitive especially Margaret restating how she thought Frank had abandoned her and didn't want her. I could not help but find it a little insensible to have not dug a little further, rather than fatalistically accepting her situation. At times it bordered on tiresome how she felt:

"abandoned and having to manage her own life in this new country."

Secondly, an awful lot seemed to come together at the end - I mean like the last 10% of the book! There was a great twist towards the end that I did not see coming; but being so close to the end left much to be resolved in a short space of time. Overall, however, this was a very good read and I would recommend it to those who appreciate depth of narrative in historical women's writing.

"It was as though she had two pairs of eyes, one she'd inherited from her parents and their parents before them and the other new-found, not during the war, but on the instant peace was declared ... she suspected that neither pair of eyes saw clearly."

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.