Crossed Quills

by Carola Dunn

Book Overview

When Wynn Selworth implores Prometheus, a supposed male literary essayist who is actually Phillippa Lisle, to help him, Phillippa poses as Prometheus' liaison since she is determined never to reveal her secret, and together they embark on a madcap adventure of love.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821760076
• ISBN13: 9780821760079
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Zebra Books
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Pleasant; admirable hero and heroine

Wynn Selworth has inherited money and a title. His days as a Gothic Romance writer under the pen name Dred Valentine are over. He no longer needs to earn money from that venture. But while preparing his maiden speech to the House on issues of importance, he finds his flowing and embellished writing style will make him a laughing stock. So he seeks "Prometheus" who writes radical political articles to get some help. But Prometheus is pen name for Phillipa "Pippa" Lisle and she lives in anonymity in the country. When Wynn finds Pippa, she claims a friendship with Prometheus and Mrs. Lisle (Pippa's mother) decides that Prometheus will lend writing support if Lord Selworth aids Pippa and her sister in their introduction to society in London. Wynn is more than willing, since their come-out in society will be at the same time his younger half-sister is to be introduced by his married sister (Albinia). Since Pippa is Albinia's good friend, they stay at her house in London and Wynn escorts them about. All is going splendidly - there is matchmaking afoot and several romances among the secondary characters. Wynn finds himself drawn to Pippa for her mind and he is falling in love. He does guess that she is Prometheus and shares his own pen name with her, especially since he has one more book that has just been published. But Wynn's talkative half-sister (younger) stirs up trouble and Pippa is believed to be the Gothic Novelist Dred Valentine. Since these books are rather "bawdy," Pippa and her family are snubbed. Wynn has left town on some business and Pippa tries to find him. She is caught in a compromising position with Wynn's best friend. Will Wynn lose Pippa to his friend Gil? How will the family's good name be restored to the ton? What about the speech to the House of Lords. You will want to read this pleasant tale to find out the answers. There is plenty of tension without any villains or sinister plots. Thoroughly enjoyable with likable, admirable characters!

A very nice political Regency...

This book of Carola Dunn is actually rather untypical of her, or so I believe. I came to Carola Dunn via gentler Regencies which had little overt politics. CROSSED QUILLS (what a marvellous name!) is a book that depends strongly on a reader's understanding of the political and social issues behind the glitter of upper-class life.Plot summary: The heroine Pippa (Philippa) is the daughter of a deceased Radical MP (radicals being those who advocated greater and faster reform measures than the Whigs, although some radicals belonged to the Whig party). Her father was Prometheus, a brilliant orator and speech-writer, whose honesty and refusal to accept bribes in return for supporting the government was well-known. At his death, his work (in print) is continued by his elder daughter. Enter the hero, a new peer, who has just succeeded to his great-uncle's barony, and has lived a fairly straightened life with his mother, stepfather (a kindly vicar), and eight siblings - one sister and seven half-brothers and half-sisters. To help support this large brood, he has been writing Gothic romances under a pseudonym, which has affected his writing on any topic. [Think melodrama, abductions, mysterious heirs, mad monks, and so forth. Think lush imagery. Think purple prose]. Lord Selworth needs help in crafting his maiden speech, and thinks of Prometheus. Fortunately his sister Albina (Bina), a young society matron, is old friends with Pippa. She provides him an introduction, and Selworth persuades the Lisle family to come to London and stay with Bina, thus solving two sets of problems. The rest of the story is taken up by the efforts of Pippa to help Wynn Selworth without revealing her identity, the secondary romance between her sister and Wynn's friend, the disastrous effects of the loose tongue of Wynn's half-sister, and the reaction of society to the revelation of Wynn's identity as a writer of Gothics. If Wynn is "outed", will he be taken seriously as a politician, especially a reforming one? Will his maiden speech be successful?If you read romances regularly, you know that the answer to both these questions is yes, albeit a qualified yes here. When you read the story, it helps to know the background of political and social unrest, the practice of the government of bribing MPs to vote for the government (usually with the promise of a sinecure or a pension), and above all, the extreme fear that ultra-Tories such as those in the Liverpool government had towards the slightest efforts at reform in the post-Waterloo era. The plight of the unemployed returning soldiers and sailors is touched upon lightly, as is the unhappiness of the Luddites and the future Chartists with the status quo socially, economically, and politically. Some minor but historically figures appear briefly or are referred to - William Cobbett, Henry Grey Bennett, Sir Francis Burdett, Henry Brougham, Castlereagh, and so forth. I liked this book very much, but found that I had

A Regency romance with a political background

An interesting book, had some details about Gunters which I wasn't aware, the hero Lord Wynn Selworth is actually a little different, thoughtful, who shares rooms with another very quiet gentleman the Honorable Gilbert Chubb. There is some social commentary but subtly done in a way that doesn't ram it down the reader's throat. Lord Selworth is a Whig after all. Philippa Lisle is the heroine, her father wrote radical articles under the pen name of `Promethesus', his daughter assisted him and on his death continued to write the articles, Lord Selworth needs the expertise of Promethesus for his maiden speech, Pippa's sister needs a season. Philippa's mother suggests, a deal is struck, a romance is played out.

A pseudonym pair

The plot was orignal though it was true to the tradition. Young woman writing political essays under her departed father's false identity and the young lord in need of help with his maiden speech for his former career as a gothic writer made a romantic muddle of his serious speeches. Of this comes a twisting story which has the usual happy ending. This novel followed the regency tradition in shape of characters except for the hero (Lord Selworth) who was a fresh change to the all Mr. Darcys out there. Warm hearted and sensitive but not cynical. The heroine(Pippa Lisle) was on the other hand much related to the heroines of Jane Austen. The political discussion were a spice to the romance and the behaviour of the young lord in the end was really funny. In overall, this book will go down well with Regency fans.

A delightful romp!

I thought that this book was simply a delightful read. Predictable? Yes, but fun nonetheless. Mistaken identities and the power of the truth must be revealed before love can conquer all. It is another great novel from Carola Dunn.