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Temptation
Jude Deveraux
Pocket Books
Romance
ISBN: 0743410181
• Read an Excerpt
In
her latest novel, TEMPTATION, Jude Deveraux again visits one of
her favorite settings, Scotland. Once again she looks at clan life
and how the laird is responsible for the well being of his clan.
And, again, she pits a strong female protagonist against the laird.
This time, though, the time period is 1909.
Temperance O'Neil is a feminist before the word is coined and an
activist in the area of women's rights. She spends her days helping
unfortunate, abandoned women on the streets of New York, finding
them housing, food, and she hopes, a better life. She also gives
monthly lectures on the ways women can help themselves and the need
for women to be able to vote and gain independence from the control
of men. She depends heavily on her substantial inheritance to fund
her work.
Temperance's
world is turned upside down when her mother returns from a trip
married to Scotsman Angus McCairn. Angus insists that since Temperance
is unmarried, she must return with him and her mother to Edinburgh
to live. Despite her protests that she has work to do in New York,
he informs her that, as her stepfather, he has control of her inheritance
until she marries and that she will not be given a penny if she
continues to live in New York. Of course, since it is 1909, this
is completely legal, and she is forced to acquiesce.
However, Temperance does not do this happily. But her revenge takes
a twist: promising to be a dutiful daughter and a credit to society,
she fills Angus's Edinburg home with meetings for charitable causes,
book clubs, and society. Desperate to have some peace and quiet
in his home, Angus devises the plan to send her to his nephew as
a housekeeper, but with the added task of finding a wife for the
man.
James McCairn is the laird of Clan McCairn, situated in the highlands.
Temperance is shocked when she arrives. Instead of the castle she
expects, or at least a large, well-maintained estate with plenty
of servants, she finds that the McCairn home is a dirty, run-down
building. It is large, but in such poor condition that there is
not a single habitable room when Temperance arrives. James is rough,
spending his days herding sheep and tending to his prize race horses.
In fact, the stables are the only well-maintained buildings on the
estate. Fearing that Angus will make good his threats to send her
to some remote area with a severely limited allowance if she fails
to find James a wife, she gets to work.
Temperance, with her mother's help, makes several attempts to match
James with an appropriate wife. Slowly she begins to clean up the
house, and slowly she befriends and learns about the women of the
village. She helps one woman set up a hat making business and another
sell her homemade liqueur. Meanwhile, she gains the respect and
friendship of James. She learns of the mystery of his grandmother's
extravagant shopping --- none of her expensive purchases have ever
been found --- and of his grandfather's gambling, the reason for
her spending and hiding the treasure.
Jude Deveraux's specialty is writing about very strong female protagonists
who must face equally strong men. With TEMPTATION, she has given
the reader one of her strongest women yet: a feminist who feels
no need to marry because she is finding fulfillment in helping other
women create better lives. Of course, being a romance novel, love
does come into play, wreaking havoc with Temperance's plans.
--- Reviewed by Debbie Ann Weiner
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