Daughter Of The Game
This gripping novel of suspense takes place in 1819. Colin Fraser, the six-year-old son of Charles and Melanie Frazer, is kidnapped from his home. The kidnapper says that he will trade Colin for a talismanic ring, one that has a long and bloody history, the most recent blood being shed over it during the Napoleonic Wars. He is convinced that the Frazers have the ring or know where it is. They don’t; however, Charles and Melanie have no choice but to undertake an anguished and dangerous search for it, hoping desperately to find it before the deadline in just a few days time. Charles, the grandson of a duke and a member of Parliament, was a spy during the Napoleonic Wars. He met his half-Spanish, half-French wife under highly traumatic conditions in the course of a desperate mission to obtain this very ring in Spain in 1812.
The Peninsular War plays a critical role in this novel, as do the politics surrounding England’s support of the Spanish monarchy following the French defeat. Choices made during the war have greatly affected the lives of Charles, Melanie and many of the other characters. Relationships within families are a central theme within Daughter of the Game and provide a number of stunning revelations. The author, who has written a number of regency-era romances, has grounded her work within the period. Readers unfamiliar with this era will gain a good sense of some of the issues at stake. Charles and Melanie are highly sympathetic, capable, and intelligent characters, in the midst of a nightmare with layers within layers. This reader wouldn’t have minded spending more time in their company. Might we hope for a sequel?
