TEST
This book started out so well. The exotic beauty of Egypt, dramatic events of life and death on the river Nile, the hint of a strong and likable heroine. And then it all went downhill. The exotic locale gave way to the comparably bland English countryside. The drama slipped into mind-numbingly bland and distasteful plotting. And the seemingly likable heroine turned into the worst of spoiled brats, positively determined to take everything the sainted hero said and did the exact wrong way. The beginning could have been the start of a high B novel, but the steady deterioration thereafter makes the D grade almost generous.
Portia “Pip” Merriem is taking her dream trip. The pampered daughter of a wealthy and indulgent family, she remains a scholarly but charming (so we’re told) spinster by choice at the venerable old age of 27. A dedicated student of Egyptology, she is ecstatic as her ship pulls into the port at Alexandria. But her world is about to change, in ways she has never expected. Her companion Isabel, another spinster, confides that she is pregnant, and has only agreed to the journey so as to absent herself from England during her unplanned pregnancy. Isabel gives only the most cursory of explanations, saying that she thought she’d found love, but hadn’t. She does not reveal the name of the child’s father, and Pip never presses her friend to do so.
John Henry Lovell has loved Pip all his life. They were children together, but when he presented his suit during her season in London, she haughtily rejected him as a man beneath her, and with no prospects. He left England in blind pain, and made his way to India, manifesting all sorts of saintly attributes and deeds. He busied himself by rescuing the son of a powerful maharajah from drowning, negotiating difficult treaties and trade routes with the natives (for whom he has only the highest respect, of course, unlike every other Englishman in the world). After all his good works, he finds himself knighted by the English crown.
Making his way home a decade later, he is waylaid in Egypt by a local English missionary and friend who asks him to aid his countrywoman in a difficult birth, whereupon John Henry walks in on Isabel dying in childbed while Pip struggles to save her. John Henry manages to save the child, via Caesarian section (not that he’s a doctor, but apparently complicated surgical techniques come with the saintly package), but Isabel is beyond help. Thus John Henry and Pip find themselves face to face with each other after ten years apart, and now they have more than their past between them. They also have a helpless, motherless infant to be taken care of – and dealt with, somehow.
At first, Pip thinks to return to England with him as her own, having sworn to Isabel that she would not shame Isabel’s family by presenting the illegitimate child to society as hers. But John Henry points out that pretending that she was the unmarried mother would bring shame on both her and her own family, and Pip realizes that she can’t do that to her parents. And so it is that John Henry and Pip get married, to pose as young Peter’s parents. But that’s just the beginning of their problems. She thinks he’s marrying her to further himself in the world (he refuses to tell her of his newfound social stature, of course), whereas he think she’s a heartless, spoiled brat. Unfortunately, he has a point.
John Henry is the most boring hero I’ve read in years and his plan to reform Pip is based on deceit. Pip is nothing short of unpleasant and bratty, and is either incredibly stupid, or knowingly deceives herself, because she insists on viewing everything saintly John Henry does in the worst light, which is no small feat in the face of his relentless virtue. In addition, they have little to no chemistry, and no lovability factor whatsoever, which has to make you wonder why you’re bothering to put yourself through the agony of this prolonged snore-a-thon at all.
And just when you think you’ve survived it all, an utterly implausible episode ensues in which Pip receives an angelic visitation, and experiences the sudden revelation that this utterly unbelievable event was the inspiration for the Egyptian sun gods. The whole bit about Egypt being a sun-soaked land, a study in contrast between life-giving sun and life-giving water must just be incidental.
I’ve heard good things about Katherine Kingsley in the past, and so I was deeply disappointed in Lilies On The Lake. But between the favorable rumors and the tantalizing beginning to this otherwise disastrous novel, I would be willing to give her a try again. But to those who look for this to be an example of her talent, I’m afraid you will be even more disappointed than I was. And that’s saying a lot.
Grade: D
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 23/09/01
Publication Date: 2001
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.