Reviewed by JulieBook provided by NetGalleyOriginally posted at Romancing the Book After Anna’s parents move to India, she is sent to live with her Aunt Charlotte. This was to be a temporary arrangement, but when Anna’s mother dies it becomes permanent. Charlotte is a rigid, bitter woman that is bent on molding Anna into her own image. Anna’s interest in antique wood furniture is the only bond she and Aunt Charlotte share. At the age of twelve, Anna accompanies her Aunt to a nearby castle to inspect a piece of furniture. While she is waiting for Charlotte to conduct her business, Anna sets eyes on Captain Redvers Stretton for the first time. From that point on, Anna becomes obsessed with Redvers.Redvers has a very interesting past. He is now a sea captain and it’s a life he is happy with. He is the most charming of men and the ladies seem to melt in his presence. He has a terrible reputation for having a lady in every port. Anna has little contact with him until her Aunt Charlotte dies under mysterious circumstances and leaves Anna with her many debts and under a cloud of suspicion. The only bright spot in Anna’s life is her best friend, Chantel. After Charlotte passes away, Chantel goes to work as a nurse at the Credition Castle.It seems that Chantel will be caring for Monique, Captain Redver’s wife. Montique has consumption and is in very poor health. It is decided that she would do better in her own land. So, Chantel arranges for Anna to travel with them as governess for Montique and Redvers son, Edward. With nothing left to keep her from accepting the position, Anna sails away on a high seas adventure filled with danger and intrigue.I love Victoria Holt and have a nice collection of her novels, but I had never read this one. To me this was one of her more scandalous novels. Blantant adultery, a wife and mistress living in the same home, Redvers being forced to marry after Monique had conceived a child and of course a sordid mystery involving a ship, diamonds and greed.Sadly, this was not one of Victoria’s better novels. I had a hard time deciding what score to give this one. I went with the four because, well, it’s Victorica Holt and while it was not her best work by any means, it was still an interesting read. It was predictable in many ways, but I thought it was a bit ahead of it’s time in other ways. This book was published originally in 1970. In many of the romantic suspense novels of that time period, some scandal could be hinted at , but for the most part these books were chaste, no premarital sex or sex scenes at all. So, this book dealt with subject matter not usually addressed. The story did get off to a very slow start and didn’t really become interesting until over the half way mark. Too much time was spent on Anna’a life with Aunt Charlotte and it took too long to set up the senario that would lead to finding out who was behind the demise of Redvers ship, who was behind Charlotte’s death, and other murder attempts. Once we got to that stage, the story moved at a much faster pace.As I said earlier, there was a predictability to this one and you many not have any trouble guessing who the culprit is, but it was still interesting how they planned it all out and there are still some surprises. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed in this one, but I was just bit let down. Having said that, I still think Victoria Holt was one of the best Gothic and Romantic suspense authors of all time and certainly inspired many of today’s popular authors in these genres. Even when she wasn’t on the top of her game, she still shines.
another good book by Victoria HoltThis is the second book I've read by Victoria Holt. The first was The India Fan, which I enjoyed reading more than this one. The Secret Woman was suspenseful and had great gothic creepiness. The story revolves around two sets of neighbors. Anna, whose parents died, lives with her cold, eccentric, aunt in an old house, which serves as both an antique store and a home to them. Next door, in a replica castle, live the rich Creditons, who are full of secrets, and the handsome Redvers, a mysterious man whom Anna becomes friends with.Anna begins the narration. Later, her narration alternates with the diary entries of Anna's new friend Chantel, a nurse who takes care of Anna's aunt. I began to wonder if I could trust the narrators...I especially liked the historic house full of interminably ticking clocks. Unfortunately, I didn't like Redvers very much, even though I felt sorry for him. He reminded me of Willoughby in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility but less likable. Anna deserved better, and I kept wondering throughout the book if Anna would get over her feelings for him and find someone worthy to love. Would he redeem himself, or would she find someone else? It was maddening, but I read the book without pause until the last page. Despite my frustrations, the book was well written and kept me turning the pages in suspense, and I will try other books by Holt.
What do You think about The Secret Woman (1970)?
Ya know, when Victoria Holt went to write a Goth Rom in 1970, she didn't mess around. Brooding architecture? Check. Native curses? Check. Swapped at birth twins? Check. Long sea voyage? Check. Evil adventuress? Check. Costume ball leading to nefarious deeds? Check and checkmate. There are only 2 real problems here - 1: If you can't figure out who the eeeeeevil doer is by about, oh, page 30 then you need more help than gothic romance can give you and 2: The denouement. Or, um, the lack thereof. It's kind of anticlimactic, you know, when you've got the whole set up and the diamonds have been found and the crazed sickly wife is raging around with her evil crazed native servant and the collapsing house in the tropics is still collapsing and the dashingly handsome sea captain has just returned from his voyage and . . and. . then, just as you're expecting a riot and the curse to come true and at least a shark attack, it all just ends. The eeeevil doer drinks poison by mistake, which fortunately leaves her time to write a three page letter detailing her deeds and give it to the somewhat dim but loyal and true heroine and then expire in a pale and glamourous way. And that's all she wrote. Damn. I was hoping for at least the house falling in or something.
—Felicity
I've always been a great admirer of the novels of this prolific author. Victoria Holt wrote some wonderful historical romantic suspense but there were no surprises in store with this offering.This book fell short of the mark for me. It took a long time for the story to gain any momentum. There was a lot of information given to Anna Brett's childhood and how she came to be in possession of the Queen's House. I knew early on who the culprit in this story would be as I had read a similar story a few years ago. It had been done before. I didn't feel any emotional chemistry between Redvers Stretten and Anna Brett. To my mind what he had done to Anna years previously (can't say more without spoilers) wasn't completely explained away satisfactorily for this reader.The author has a distinctive voice and I normally love the stories that she wove but I was quite disapponted in this one.
—Cphe
I've read other books by this author who writes under several different names, among them Jean Plaidy, who seems to be in charge of the higher quality historical fiction. This one I would have to call a guilty pleasure if a pleasure at all. The hero and heroine were so blind to what was going on it was difficult to root for them. A large part of the plot seemed to be lifted from "Jane Eyre" and I'm still not sure what timeframe we were dealing with. 1870s? 1890s? It almost eked out another star with a little twist at the end, but I should have seen it coming so I'm sticking with two.
—Stephen
