Although I loved the wonderful Skye O'Malley by Ms. Small, I had begun to shy away from any more of Ms. Small's books because, frankly, I was sick of Skye's many children and grandchildren. I'm gratified to see that Ms. Small has gotten away from the O'Malley saga and has turned her attention to creating other characters far and away from Skye. Having said that, however, The Duchess isn't one of her best efforts. Allegra is beautiful, rich and accomplished. But she's almost too perfect. She's intelligent, educated, accomplished, makes friends easily, strikes the right tone in almost every social situation, has friends in high places, and impresses all the right and important people. She's a 17 year old girl who becomes a high profile peer overnight and makes absolutely no social gaffes. I just wanted the girl to break out with a pimple on her nose or something. Relentless perfection isn't very interesting reading. I like characters with flaws who have texture and who grow.Allegra and her Duke marry, making pains to tell everyone repeatedly that they aren't in love. It would be charming except Allegra constantly talks about how she doesn't recognize love. Rather than seeming to shed a light on her fears or even to give depth to her personality, this repetition merely sounds labored and pedantic. I did appreciate Ms. Small's efforts at fleshing out some of the historical figures of 18th century England (even if she does go about it in a Jerry-Springer-trashy-gossip sort of way). I could have done without all the descriptions of food, though. And while I've only given this book two stars, it actually deserves an extra half-star for not allowing Allegra to be kidnapped into a harem to learn unearthly sexual delights.
If you are new to the author you would probably rate this higher. If you have read her earlier books you may be a tad bit disappointed.Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book. I just didn't feel this book was up to Bertrice Small's high standards. Perhaps she had intended it to be a series and instead crammed it into one book instead. Thus leaving it to feel a little rushed. I felt the main characters, who were newly wed, should have had a little more conflict. And there were a couple of incidents that left me wondering why they were even in the book.
What do You think about The Duchess (2001)?
Pretty sure you'll like this one a lot better than the last one you rated.Bertrice Small is a very good historical story teller.Facts are all on the spot you can see that she real did the research for her books.
—Samie Kauchis
So sad!!! While it is a well written story and keeps you hoping for the [spoiler alert] ideal happy ending it continues to break your heart!!!
—Brittany Ann
I used to like Bertrice Small when I read the first Skye O'Malley books. But they too get old when they are written about all of her children and grandchildren. I thought I would enjoy this book, but I think I wasted my time reading it. It just wasn't that exciting or well written. In this book she spends way too much time describing trivial things. She has a page and a half describing the food served. She also has a page and a half describing the bedroom. I like good descriptive authors like Lisa Kleypas but please this was just over the top on irrelevant things. Of course if they were taken out there would be very few pages left! Don't waste your time on this one!
—Elaine Mcdonald
