The Nightingale Legacy (Legacy Trilogy)

by Catherine Coulter

Book Overview

On the eve of her nineteenth birthday, the vivacious Caroline Derwent-Jones looks forward to being free of her oafish guardian, Mr. Ffalkes. But Mr. Ffalkes has other plans for Caroline and her inheritance; Caroline must escape. In her flight, Caroline encounters Lord Chilton of Mount Hawke, Frederic North Nightingale, and finds herself tangled in mystery and romance. Amid murder, enigmatic secrets, and a long standing tradition of no women at Mount...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399139702
• ISBN13: 9780399139703
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.3" x 1.2" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Perfect - absolutely perfect - A Coulter winner!!

One of those books you can really get into - this book had everything, a great love story, suspenseful plot - which was almost impossible to figure out - and lots of very real evil characters. First off North and Caroline are two of Coulter's favorites and you can see why. They are perfect for one another, and if North was a brooder he certainly came alive and was the opposite once he got fully absorbed in Caroline. They say a loved one can truly make a person better and she did this for North. He needed someone to love him unconditionally and boy did she - She was funny, quirky and so totally uninhibited and matched him word for word and emotion to emotion. Great great love scenes in this book too! This was a sizzler. And the evil people - there were just too many to name. Sometimes you wondered how this couple could even fall in love with so much tragedy around them. But although the evil people were many they were so varied and made the book so interesting! The fact North's 3 servants totally hated women and the whole legacy of Nightingale men and the betrayal was a new plot that I had never experienced and it was facinating. And all the killings - although I did finally suspect the villain - there did not seem to be anyone else it could be toward the end. I mostly loved how Coulter did not allow this couple to seperate or loose confidence in each other through some of the suspicious moments - that would normally send a man like North away from his wife, and then that would be the plot. Coulter however did not let North feel betrayed by Caroline - that was so important to their story because there was absolutely no reason to ever doubt Caroline's love for North. This was a true 5 star book - highly recommend this one to all readers!!

The Nightingale Legacy

This is one of Coulter's better books. North and Derwent-Jones are the David and Maddie of the Regency era. I loved the witty banter between the two equally intelligent people and the respect they treat each other with. This book is sensual sexuality at it's best (satin handcuffs were a nice touch). North Nightingale was not only sexy but erotically kinkie in a fun loving way. The humor in this book between all the main characters is great. The serial killer mystery in this book kept me turning pages long into the night much to my husband's chagrin.This book also deals with a darker side of life. The message that battered and abused women & children no longer have to be "victims or survivors" of sexual or physical predators but can empower themselves to become warriors (eg: fighting for new and better laws) and their 'own' defenders is well received by this former 3 mo. - 3 year old "victim" of a pedophile predator known as Mom's second husband or "stepfather" to me. It is time to get this ugliness out in the open where it can be viewed under the microscope for what it is "a life long debilatating crime." I salute Catherine Coulter for her courage in writing about these subjects in not only this book but also in the Storm Trilogy and others.

It Doesn't Get Any Better

I have read every one of Coulter's books and more romance than I could ever care to count, and this ranks up there as one of my all time favorites of any romance and most fiction books. North fascinated me from the time that he was introduced in Wyndham. I waited impatiently for his story, and I was not disappointed. He is the epitome of the brooding, tortured romantic hero, much in the spirit of Rochester and Heathcliff, but without the violent Gothic tendencies. His brooding is partly by choice, partly hereditary and he does his best to turn it into something silly so that the melancholy does not consume him the way it did his father and grandfather. Caroline is a heroine who, though sometimes a little goofy, is determined and strong and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. In this case, she wants North, and who can blame her? The secondary characters are typical of Coulter's creations in that they are wonderfully fun and witty. Some of the great moments o!f the book occur during the interactions between North's misogynistic household and Caroline's pregnant charges. The story is basically about a man struggling desperately not to become like those who came before him, a plot that is by no means uncommon, but in Coulter's capable hands, the characters jump out and take on a life of their own, making this story, and specifically its hero, insurpassable. If only we all had a man like North in our life. The world would definitely be a happier place for me.

SUPER!

This is the first book that I have ever read by Catherine Coulter and find that I enjoy it very much. It is full of surprises, mysteries, humor, and sadness that it keeps you on you toes throughout the entire story. I couldn't put it down for a minute. Believe me, I couldn't wait to pick it up the minute I got back from school. It is truely a page turner. Set in the early 1800s, an innocent young girl tries to fight off her greedy cousin who wanted her heritage so he tries to force her into marriage. She escape him and ran into Frederick North Nightingale in an inn when her hostage became sick... If you enjoy books that makes you want to turn the page over and over until you finish them you should read this book. It will surely make you want to do that. Catherine is definitely going to be on my top list from now on. No way I'm going to stop looking for her books now that I found her.

sex with substance

I started reading romance novels when I was about 11 and now I'm 16. Catherine Coulter is one of my favorite novelists and Nightengale Legacy is one of my favorite books. I like a book with substance not just sex and this book has got both. Including North Nightengale! An excellent read!