The Devil's Protection

by Susan Clitheroe

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312134665
• ISBN13: 9780312134662
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining tale but flawed

Susan Clitheroe provides a fascinating hero (Augustin Vance, Earl of Brewood) and a spirited heroine (Geneva Hartwell) and the pace of her tale never flags. This was one I could not put down: I read this book in twelve hours. The tale is a rather tangled one, but the author pulls it off well. Our heroine is left orphaned shortly before she is of age and after she has recently discovered that she is heir to a large fortune from an uncle she never knew. Her father was tricked into leaving his daughter in the guardianship of her cousin Leonard Boeman, the stepson of the deceased uncle. He tries to force her to marry him so he can get her fortune which he believes should have been left to him. Upon fleeing his house she reluctantly accepts the aid of the rakish Brewood who has just landed himself in a pickle by killing a man who had dishonourable intentions toward his sister. She agrees to accompany him to the continent posing as his betrothed thus keeping her from the clutches of her wicked guardian and keeping him out of the hands of the law. The careful development of both characters reminds me of the works of Georgette Heyer. The comparison would have been complete if Clitheroe had not marred her tale with one R rated love scene. Fortunately the scene is brought to a halt and the lady keeps her virtue, thus saving the book from being just another trashy novel. The copy I read was Thorndike's large print editon. I have noticed that many large print books suffer from very sloppy editing. It looked like the typesetter had quaffed a little too much of his favourite poison on the job. Some of the typos were truly nonsensical. At least one of the mistakes was not the printer's fault. Geneva recieves a letter from her former housekeeper, Mrs Hollins. Later when the letter is referred to it is said to be from Mrs Hartwell. That cannot be since Geneva's mother has been dead since she was a small child. There is also the author's poor understanding of the proper use of Brewood's title. More careful editing and a bit more research would have stood the author in good stead.