I also learned quite a bit about how mentally afflicted people, or, as in this case, presumed mentally afflicted people, were treated in the 19th century (glad I live in the 21st!). The frustration, anger, fear and desperation that the Duke endures at the lost of control over his life is so raw in this book that you just want to cry for him - extremely well done. She puts real emotions into her characters, gives them real goals and aspirations, and expresses them so well that you feel what they feel. Her characters are flawed, but oh, so real! Not like the picture perfect, often self absorbed characters in many other romances. All three of Ms Kinsale's books are unusual but very, very enjoyable. What a great find! I'd never heard of Laura Kinsale, and decided to buy these books when I saw them in the "people who bought this also bought" section under one of Georgette Heyer's books (one of my all-time favorites). This is the third Laura Kinsale book I've listened to of the three that are currently available on Audible. What an agreeable surprise.absolutely superb! One of the best narrators I have listened too in over 600 hundred books. Very highly recommended!! Nicholas Bolton was just magical in the delivery of the story. If you like more complex books and authors like the Bronte sisters, George Elliot, Julia Ross/Jean Ross Ewing, Mary Balogh early Woodiwiss and maybe even Liz Carlyle or Gaelen Foley, I think you will like this book. This book is an investment in time and emotions - not a quick, easy read. This is a truly moving, wonderful story that I highly recommend to those looking for more than just sex and light romance. ![]() And Maddy is so devoted to Christian that time and time again, she tests the bounds of her faith against what she feels is right. This book must have been exhausting to write! The author deftly conveys Christian's frustration, broken language and motor skills as well as his needy attachment to Maddy as it grows to love. I won't say more about the plot, but the characters are so well written that they will make you laugh, cry, and bite your nails with anxiety for them. But all sorts of misadventures, manipulations and deceptions follow with Christian keeping a death-grip on Maddy while Maddy is torn between helping Christian and keeping to her father and her faith. Maddy devotes herself to easing his fears, helping him to communicate and, when she learns that he must face a competency hearing (instigated by his greedy brothers-in-law) or lose his title and his freedom for good, she resolves to do what she can to prepare him. His fear and frustration were nothing short of heartbreaking and the treatment and humiliation he endures from his "attendants" borders on cruel and masochistic - simply horrifying. She is allowed to be his daytime caregiver and he latches onto her like a lifeline. In his frustration, he lashes out like an animal but when he recognizes Maddy, he calms. On rounds to meet the patients, she is stunned to discover a disheveled, wild-eyed Jervaulx among the inmates! Before the duel could even commence, Christian was struck down by a stroke and is left unable to communicate, with damage to his motor skills and memory. When word comes that he has perished in a duel, both the news and her reaction to it shock her, as she weeps for this man she thought she did not even like! Months later, Maddy and her father find themselves at Blythedale Hall, an insane asylum for the well to do where Maddy will assist her Cousin Edward who runs the place. Maddy is both fascinated and repulsed by the duke and his wild, worldly ways (he actually flirts with her!). ![]() He is working on a paper detailing a new mathematical theory with an unlikely partner - blind Quaker John Timms whose daughter Archimedea (Maddy) is his eyes and caregiver. He also happens to be a mathematical genius. And let me tell you I was not only blown away, but I'll be searching out Ms Kinsale's other books for sure! A great book, compelling characters and a story to make you smile and weep and worry and hope that all will be well in the end! When first we meet Christian Langland, Duke of Jervaulx, he is too handsome and charming for his own good, dissolute, completely reckless and full of hubris. , I was glad of the chance to listen to it and see for myself what all the fuss was about. This book and this author (whom I've never read) seem to be much revered by readers and authors alike. You know a book has a lot to live up to when you read things like "One of the world's most cherished love stories!" and "Probably the best historical romance ever published" and "One of the greatest love stories of all time" not to mention "A watershed in romance fiction".
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