Escapade

by Marian Devon

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449215954
• ISBN13: 9780449215951
• Release Date: December 1988
• Publisher: Fawcett Books
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Funny story of a cross-Channel flight in a balloon

[This is a draft review]Escapade really starts in Calais, France and ends up near Canterbury, England. The ending was too burlesque for me to rate this very highly, but the beginning and middle were superb. Maria, Lady Carleton, the childless widow of a much older man (one of her father's friends, of course) is walking her sister-in-law's obese dog when she spots a balloon ascension about to take place. Believing that the balloonist is Madame Blanchard (widow of a famous balloonist), she draws closer hoping to see the lady. Instead, when the dog is tossed into the basket with an inebriated English gentleman, she climbs in to rescue the dog - and finds to her dismay that the gentleman's friends have let the balloon loose. The ill-assorted and woefully unprepared party of three - a gentleman, a lady, and a dog - are floating across the Channel.There is a prequel to this of course. The hero has fled England, after being named in the memoirs of a notorious courtesan. He is thus not the best person with whom to be marooned (inflight, as it were). When the couple make land (at the Cliffs of Dover!), they end up at an inn with no money. Enter an inquisitive and possibly blackmailing journalist, enter old acquaintances of the hero. The couple flee the inn for one of the hero's smaller estates. So far, so good.Unfortunately, once the couple arrived at the estate, things took a turn for the worse (in more ways than one). Firstly, Maria discovers a child being mistreated by his uncle at the estate, and intervenes decisively. Secondly, the hero's fiance shows up with her cousin (who loves her) believing him to be dead and intent on purloining the best portrait of him. Thirdly, the hero's friend (the one who arrived at the inn) shows up, needing money as usual. And then the blackmailing journalist also arrives, completing the party - no wait, the hero's fiancee's father also arrives. The last part of the book was a bit too much. It is true that everyone believes that the hero drowned in the Channel, but the antics of the hero in the last part reminded me more of a burlesque or a farce, than of the wry tone in the first two-thirds of the book. I did appreciate the companionship between the young child and the overfed dog, and the loyalty of the incredibly patient servants. But the ending did not quite satisfy me, nor did the reasons why the hero fled England make a lot of sense to me. Grade = B-