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Read A Crowning Mercy (2003)

A Crowning Mercy (2003)

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Rating
3.57 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
0007168233 (ISBN13: 9780007168231)
Language
English
Publisher
harpercollins publishers

A Crowning Mercy (2003) - Plot & Excerpts

Dorcas Slythe is constantly humiliated and mistreated at the hands of her Puritan family and their servants. Then she meets Toby Lazender while bathing in a nearby stream and begins to dream of a life filled with love and beauty. Forced to marry Samuel Scammell she despairs but her "Father's death" reveals a secret and a fortune. When Dorcas finds the Seal of St Matthew she takes the name of Campion and flees from her home. Hoping to find out more about the mysterious Covenant she seeks out Sir Grenville Cony. Cony is the holder of the Seal of St. Mark and his one desire is to assemble 3 of the Seals so he can claim Campion's fortune as his own. But Campion has a stalwart champion in Toby and he frees her from Grenville's clutches and she spends many happy months with Toby's family.But with the help of Campion's "brother" Ebenezer Slythe, Grenville destroys the Lazender's home and takes Campion prisoner. Denounced as a witch she is held in the Tower of London and barely escapes the executioner when the mysterious Devorax whisk her away to safety. He delivers her to Mordecai Lopez the holder of the Seal of St. Luke. Lopez reveals that her Real Father is Christopher Aretine and that he assembled the fortune for her. Lopes helps her escaped to the Royalist Stronghold of Oxford and reunites her with Toby whom she marries. He gives her his Seal and promises to help her claim the two in Grenville's possession. Devorax meets with Ebenezer and strikes a bargain he will share the money from the Covenant with him. He arranges for Ebenezer to get Grenville to come with his Seals to an old church and promises to have Campion and her Seal there. Grenville, Toby and Campion are taken prisoner by Devorax and Ebenezer. Devorax test Toby's love for Campion and when Toby passes the test he takes Ebenezer prisoner and lets Campion and Toby go with the Seals. He has Campion and Toby taken to Lopez's ship and couple sets sail for Amsterdam, while Devorax stays behind to deal with Ebenezer and Cony. Only after they have set sail does Toby realize the package Devorax gave Toby for Lopez is really intended for Campion. When she opens it she finds the Seal of St John.

I picked this up at a going out of business sale as soon as I saw Bernard Cornwell's name. Little did I know that the co-author was his wife and the book was actually published in 1983. I also had no idea that this story would be as much or more historical romance rather than straight historical fiction.All of that notwithstanding, after I started it and got through the first hundred pages or so the plot picked up and not without some serious foot dragging, I was able to finish it. While reading the book, I became very impatient with the sometime dunder-headed heroine. Dorcas or Campion depending on who was addressing her. I also had a little trouble with the love at first sight scenario but then remembering other books, I realized that this was often a staple of novels written about this period, the English Civil War. There is a great deal of plotting by all the characters and mysterious personages who are not what they seem to be. The entire plot revolves around four pendants, one of which was left to her by her father and ownership of three of the four will give the possessor access to unimaginable wealth and power. There are many twists and turns and far too many coincidences that either threaten or save the heroine but I had to see what eventually happened while hoping some of Cornwell's battle descriptions would occur. I was disappointed to find out that my curiosity was not to be satisfied as there are two more volumes in what turns out to be a trilogy. However, I was rewarded with Cornwellian Descriptions of battles and violent confrontations.My biggest disappointment though was the stereotypical characters who were either unremittingly evil or flawlessly good. There is, however, a certain satisfaction when the evil-doers get their comeuppance and the goodies get their rewards, but the lack of realism palls after a while.I'm tempted to get my hands on volume two in order to discover "what happens next" but I'm not sure I can stomach the sugary road I would have to take to get there.

What do You think about A Crowning Mercy (2003)?

Can't believe this was written by Cornwell....had to go read another of his (Harlequin)to reassure myself that the Warlord series wasn't just a one-off!The plot was unbelievable, the writing style gauche at best and stereotyping abounded. The characters, therefore, were implausible and I certainly couldn't care less what happened to them. The book is readable but I almost didn't bother to finish it. I see there is a sequel - I won't bother reading it! I give it a resounding Barely Adequate as a read.
—Deborah Pickstone

This is the first book by Bernard Cornwell that I've had the pleasure to read. And, pleasure it was. :o)It's true, there are no great surprises and the story follows the familiar historical romance trope of downtrodden heroine who is really much more than at first she appears and who, in the end, is rescued by that tantalizing combination of love and a secret, noble past. Dorcas Slythe thinks she's the daughter of an epically nasty Puritan father at the start of the Protestant Revolution. Of course, she's not. She's the secret love-child and fabulously wealthy heiress to the aristocrat who was once the most handsome, charismatic nobleman in Europe. About to be married to a grotesque, greedy, slug of a man, she escapes to find her true ancestry, destiny, and love--a handsome red haired Lord whom she met while illicitly bathing naked in a stream. There are bad guys who seem good, good guys who seem bad, and even super-secret jewels. It's everything a girl could want to curl up with on a cold winter's night with her cat and a roaring fire...until her own lover gets home a bit later.... ;o)Enjoy.
—C.S. Einfeld

I really like Bernard Cornwell books and have a lot on my shelves at home. Women do not figure too much in his books so I thought that with his wife as co author it might make the female character more gutsy. It was a romance story and lacked the usual grit and edginess of Bernard 's books. I even got fed up with the trial chapter , which normally would have me glued to the book. Overall the book wasn't a bad read but I felt it lacked the grit and the ending felt odd and I needed to know what happened in Amsterdam. Perhaps there will be a sequel some time .
—Liz Chapman

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