A Forbidden Love and a Tropical Isle—Formula for a Lasting Love!Set in 1792, this tells of Delilah Remy from the British island of Barbados who visits her great aunt in Virginia with the hopes of finding a suitor she actually wants (having previously turned down two dozen proposals and not being very thrilled with her father’s choice). One night she encounters Joss San Pietro, the first man she’s ever been attracted to. He’s tall, dark and terribly handsome and much more mature than the fops who she’s been exposed to and better that the oh-so-dull man her father would see her marry on Barbados where they have a plantation. But the night they meet, Lilah and Joss learn a terrible secret about him that means they can never be together: Joss is not entirely white. Robards deals well with a sensitive issue at a time when England had no slaves but America did. Joss is an educated businessman, a merchant sea captain with his own ships, but the one drop of African blood in his veins rules him out as a suitor and throws him into slavery. On the ship voyage south to Barbados, where Joss accompanies Lilah as a slave, they will be shipwrecked on a tropical island for months where none of the rules apply.Robards tells a great tale with wonderful characters and a deep romance that defies the rules of the day. I’m giving it 4 stars because the ending seemed a bit rushed (yes, there was an epilogue but still it seemed something was lacking). I can recommend it and it did keep me turning pages.
Great - right up to the end. Lilah is a Barbados belle, in the deep south to visit family. She is instantly attracted to Joss San Pietro - until she learns he is the grandson of a runaway "high yellah" slave. Suddenly, everything she is and everything she believes in is under siege. One moment Joss is a fairly well-to-do businessman, and the next he is nothing but a piece of property. Robards does a fair job of exploring the inequities of slavery in the plantations of the south and the islands.
What do You think about Desire In The Sun (2006)?
J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé cette histoire il y a plein de rebondissement et on reste suspendu au livre Joss est un hero simple, il est franc, droit, honorable sans être un surhomme comme dans certain roman. Lilah m'a un peu agacée par moment avec ses grands air, elle fait trop attention à l'opinion publique etc Je suis partie avec un gros à priori sur l'histoire parce que je ne suis vraiment pas fan du tout des histoires situées en Amérique du temps de l'esclavage. Même si la relation maître - esclave est l'enjeu du livre elle passe un peu au second plan dans une bonne partie du livre, du coup c'est passé pour moi.A mon avis il manque au moins 20-30 pages au livre. La fin est trop rapide, trop brusque. C'est dommage parce que à par ça j'ai beaucoup aimé le style de l'auteur. La fin est juste frustrante, on est suspendu au livre pour finalement avoir un dénouement bâclé, torché en 5 pages.
—Pauline
I've read a ton of Robards' books. She is one of my favorite authors. But...this book is probably one of my least favorite of hers. I don't necessarily think it's bad, writing or storyline wise. I think I just didn't particularly care for the theme and content because it deals with slavery and all those prejudices and actions of that time, and being a very open-minded person, I had a hard time comprehending and understanding the mind-sets. With that type of subject matter, you just end up readin
—jenjn79
