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Subject: "Diana's Historical Books complete info ready to print"

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Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Jul-12-07, 05:11 PM (EST)   "Diana's Historical Books complete info ready to print"   LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-07 AT 03:17 PM (EST)   MAGNOLIA 1) Publication info: IVY BOOKS – printing 1997 – ISBN 0-8041-1282-7 Dedicated to: to Russ and Carole McIntire with love 2) Main characters: Hero – John Hawthorn – He is 31 years old and he is tall, fit and athletic, he plays tennis and can dance beautifully. He has dark eyes and dark hair. He is quiet and stoic, and very fastidious about his personal appearance He is vice president of Peachtree City Bank, owned by Eli Calverson. He left the bank for a short time in 1897 to serve briefly in the army during the Spanish-America War as an office commissioner. He was educated at the Citadel a Military College in South Carolina. And has also a Master Degree in business from Harvard. He enjoys Military history, biographies, Georgia Colonial history. He also likes railroads and to play chess. He received 2 medals during the Spanish-America war a Silver Star, he never mentioned why and a Purple Heart, for a wound in his lung. John came from old money in Savannah. He lost his 2 young twin brothers, Rob and Andrew, when USS Maine went down in Havana Harbor only 2 months before his unit was shipped to Cuba. He fells guilty about it. John was engaged to Diane before the war but she jilt him to marry Eli Calverson but he thinks he still love her. Heroine – Claire Lang is 20 years old and has gray eyes, and brown hair. She also has a little dimple in her chin, and a nicely rounded figure, not beautiful. She is spunky and has a devilish sense of humor, kind heart and passable manners. She “seems” always covert of muddy and grease. She designs and makes gowns for rich society matrons under the label Magnolia. She is also a very good mechanic. She decides to maintain her uncle’s automobile an Oldsmobile car that she gives the pet name Chester. 3) Main characters background: Clayton Hawthorn, John’s father. He is a chairman of its board of directors. He also sits on the board of 3 other prominent banks, one in Atlanta. He is very sick, heart trouble. He is tall, thin with gray hair and a very dignified man. He looks pale and lackluster. He has mustache and a goatee with dark eye. He and John had a very bad fight after Rob and Andrew death, where Clayton blames John for it. Clayton after that forbids his wife Maude to maintain contact with John. Maude Hawthorn, John’s mother. She is small and fair with a fragile look. She has blue eyes. Maude is a member of the Savannah Chapter like Emily. Jason Hawthorn, John brother he owns a huge shipping business in Savannah and a fleet of fishing boats. He is tall and huskier with blond hair and dark eyes. Jason is outgoing and entertaining different of his older brother John quiet and stoic. He resembles his older brother although they have a difference in coloring. Emily Hawthorn is John youngest sister. She is going to debut during Spring Ball from next year. She is tall, elegant and fair like her mother but with dark eyes. Claire’s parents died of cholera 10 years past and she went to live with Uncle Will Lang, only living sibling of Claire’s father. He was white headed, with a thick silver mustache. He lived in a big house at Colbyville. He was a bachelor. He bought the first car in the surrounds. An Oldsmobile car, fueled with gasoline. Will Lang dies of a sudden heart attack in the very beginning of the book. 4) Storyline: John is in love with a married woman Diane his ex-fiancé. After the sudden death of Will Lang, Claire’s uncle, he asks Claire to marry him to save her from an unknown future and Diane’s good name. Claire is in love with him but in their wedding day Diane professes her love to John, and although he goes through with the marriage, he regrets it immensely. Claire designs and sews her own gown and sells them to a few society matrons. She creates a label Magnolia and has a very fast success. After humiliation after humiliation from her husband John she decides to leave him and goes to his family. Where she is accepted with open arms, she starts the process of healing with Clayton, in both issues, Clayton’s heart and John’s. She goes back to Atlanta after Kenny’s call telling her about John’s prison. He is accused of embezzled money from the bank. John and Claire gets the culprit and are thinking about go back to Savannah to live. 5) Back-cover blurb: A love as sweet and seductive as the magnolias and peachtrees of Georgia… Atlanta in 1900 was a city of contrasts: a bustling place where commerce and high society flourished amid the languid rhythms of the sultry South. Claire Lang loved her life there. But one man’s presence unsettled her very soul. John Hawthorn’s dark eyes and lean, handsome face captivated Claire more than she wanted to admit. And when tragedy struck, Claire found herself desperate enough to marry him – a man who didn’t love her… a man she loved passionately. As the fragrant scent of the Magnolia wafted on warm breezes, Claire aroused fierce, unexpected desires in her elusive husband. And once she had tasted his kisses and savored her lovemaking, she dared to fight for him as a sizzling scandal threatened to engulf them and the love she began to believe could be theirs… 6) Children: Claire is pregnant of their first child. She is 1 month or so 7) Pet: None 8) Other characters: - Gertie is Uncle Will housekeeper she is daughter of Gordon Mills Jackson a famous Negro trial attorney in Chicago. She is married to Harry for thirty years. She helped Uncle Will to raise her. - Eli Calverson is in his fifties and not at all attractive. He is a stout little man with flowing blond-and silver mustache and a bald head. He is owner of the Peach City Bank where John works. He goes personally every day at nine to open the bank. He is very possessive with everything he owns. Claire thinks it is very strange the fact that a man who came from farming stock should amass such a fortune in so short a time. - Diane Calverson is 22 years old, petite, blond and blue eyed with a cream complexion. She is cultured, well breed, and says to be related to most of the royal houses in Europe. She and John had been engaged 2 years before. She was introduced to Eli by John. - Kenny Blake is Claire friend from school days. He is medium height, blond, blue eyed and very shy with a plain face. He has a men’s clothing shop. Kenny and Claire get along very well. - Mrs. Dobbs is John and Claire landlady. - Noah, Jennifer and Ted Whitfield. They are father, wife and son. They are merging with Eli’s bank. Ted is interested in Claire. - Evelyn Paine is a society Matron, married to a local railroad magnate Bruce Paine. She and Claire had a quite a lot in common. Claire’s skill with a needle had caught Evelyn’s attention. - Lt. Col. Chayce Marshal, United States Army, he’d been serving in Philippines. Chayce has green eyes and he is a friend of John. He is very frank in his way of speaking. He is going to Charleston to teach cadets. - Mr. Stillwell has white hair. He works at Macy’s department store in New York City. He is interested in the Magnolia label, by Claire. - Dawes, the bank bookkeeper, he small and a very nervous man. He uses spectacles and has a depraved sex life that Eli uses as blackmail. - Matt Davis is a Sioux and a very old friend of John. He is a Pinkerton agent from Chicago. He is in Atlanta to give a conference. Matt is tall, lean with an untamed look, despite his expensive clothing. He has a very long and straight hair that he uses tied. His eyes are full of the past few years. His father died at Little Bighorn and his mother died at the Wounded Knee massacre, along with his young sisters. Matt himself was bad wounded. The kindness of a white reservation doctor and his daughter’s skilled nursing saved matt from life as a cripple. - Jared Dunn is also mentioned in this book. He is also a good friend of John. He used to be a gun fighter and after that he joined the Texas Ranger. Now he practices law in New York City. He has blue eyes. info by Renata   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Sep-06-07, 02:10 PM (EST)   1. "RE: Diana's Historical Books complete info" In response to message #0   LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-07 AT 03:16 PM (EST)   NOELLE 1) Publication info: IVY BOOKS – printing 1995 – ISBN 0-8041-1281-9 Dedicated to: In memory of Ryan Patton Hendricks, whose light shines brightly in the heart of all those who loved him. 2) Main characters: Hero – Jared Dunn – He is 36 years old and he is tall, and elegant. He has blue eyes and dark, wavy hair. He has a straight nose. He is a lawyer and gives up New York because he is tired of work in the wrong side of justice and also he is homesick. Jared had a very wild life. When he was a young man living in Dodge City, he became involved with Ava, one of the saloon girls. He was very young and impressionable, and he fancied himself in love for the first time. When she came all with bruises and cuts and told him she’d been rapped and robbed, without questioning her accusation, he went to the cowboy, called him and killed him. He found out later that she’d lied and everything because the cowboy had spurned her attentions. He started to drink after that and got in fights after fights. He entered a gang of outlaws. A Texas Ranger sobered him up, and dragged him into the decent word. Jared became captain. He served the army but got tired from so many rules and went back to the Rangers. Soon after his mother who was dying, and still thought he was living the wild life, begged him to go East and study law. To easy her last hours he gave his word after that he could hardly break it. And went to Cuba’s war taking leave from his law practice in New York. He went to study law in Harvard. Heroine – Noelle Brown is 19 years old and has thick auburn hair. Lovely oval face with thick-lashed green eyes, faint freckles, straight nose and a pink pretty mouth. She is very kind and hard work. Noelle is a reticent person, very withdrawn. She keeps for herself much like Jared. She is a Christmas baby – that explains her name – NOELLE from NOEL. She has a very sad past, all her family died in the flood that hit Galveston in the fall of 1900. After that she went to live with an elderly uncle, but he got an offer to work at Galveston and she was terrified to go back there. She survived the flood because she was out of town visiting her uncle in Victoria. He was down with his back and she went there to keep the house for him. Until she went to live with Andrew’s family (he is a distant cousin of hers) she has never experienced indoor plumbing washing machines, new fangled refrigerator with removable ice trays, gas stove, electric lights and even a telephone. She is sweat on Andrew. 3) Main characters background: Edith Paige, Jared’s mother. She was raped while living in Dodge City and Jared is the result. She married Daniel Paige, Andrew’s father. They died of cholera. While dying she begged Jared to give his wild life and go to law school. Noelle’s parents died in the flood that hit Galveston in 1900 with her 4 brothers. They were very poor. Her father was a carpenter and also a minister. And her mother used to love gardening. She used to keep a kitchen garden and a rose garden. And Noelle used to help her. 4) Storyline: Forth Worth, Texas 1902 Jared Dunn a very well known lawyer that gives up his practice in New York and goes to Forth Worth, Texas to stay close his remains family. And to protect his grandmother of Noelle that he thinks is trying to find a good life. Noelle has a tragic past, and went to live with Andrew’s family because she didn’t have where to go after her uncle went to Galveston to work. Place that brings her sad memories. She is sweat on Andrew and will discover in the hard way he was not what she thought he was. 5) Back-cover blurb: HE WAS A REAL CASE, BUT SHE HAD LOVE ON HER SIDE… Like most of the young ladies in Forth Worth, Noelle Brown was smitten by handsome, charming Andrew Paige. But when she challenged the steely-eyed gaze of his step brother Jared, something inside her felt a little wild, a little thrilled… a little afraid. He was a big-city lawyer with a killer’s stance – a desperado turned lawman, disillusioned with life haunted by a past he couldn’t escape. But this tender, green girl, with her flash fire temper and unconventional ways, tempted and tormented him a sweet, maddening passion. Rivalry would pit brother and scandal would rock heir lives. And Noelle would have to convince a man unwilling to believe in love that only he could still the anguish in her heart – and fulfill the promise of their destiny together… 6) Children: Noelle is pregnant of their first child. She is 5 month or so. We find in aother book they had a son 7) Pet: A marmalade kitten with big blue eyes. 8) Other characters: - Alistair Brooks, Jared’s former senior partner of the firm Brooks and Dunn in New York. He has dark eyes. - Mrs. Dunn, Jared’s grandmother. She is small and has blue eyes. She is in her seventies. She had a pretty hard life, when Jared’s mother, Edith, was still alive she used to work in saloon in Dodge. Now she is a member of Women’s Benevolent Society, Temperance Union, ladies sewing circle and prayer group. - Andrew Paige, will be 28 in November. He has a mustache that mashed his blond hair and dark eyes. He is as tall as his step brother Jared but less streamlined, he is the epitome of a dashing ex-soldier. Women love him. He founds people fascinating, and it is obvious that he enjoys them. He put on airs and pretends to be a war hero in the Philippines, no one knows that he was a clerk in the supply depot, a desk job and never went to combat. His family used to have money but his father lost everything, although his family name is still an asset. His family has connection with European royalty. Andrew thrived on women admiration. - Ella Pate, Jared’s housekeeper, she does all the cooking and washing for the family. - Henry, Jared’s gardener, he has alcohol problems is a source of problems to Noelle. - Mrs. Hardy, Jared’s neighbor. She is kin to gossip. The woman had nothing that flowered, and Noelle thought wickedly that they probably shriveled from the woman’s malignant presence. - Miss Amanda Doyle, in her mid-twenties. She is a very beautiful blonde. Her father is a railroad baron, and he and his wife are unimaginably protective of their 3 daughters. Her family has been in Forth Worth for 2 generations. She once had rejected Andrew’s suit rather brutally. - Jennifer Beale is an elegant blind and blue eyed girl. She is the type of a girl that can change a man and she is sweet on Andrew and marries him in the end. - Terrance Beale, a self made man who had risen to prominence because of a knack for investing his savings in profitable ventures. He invested in a million to one shot that a prospector would find oil in East Texas. Hew got luck and it made him rich when the prospector hit one of the deepest wells at spindle top. He had a wild life when young and his wife Allison died in result of it. He is 55 years old. Terrance is tall, dark haired with a scarred face. He considers his daughter Jenifer his biggest asset. He was living in El Paso, working a part time town marshal, when one night, 3 rowdies he’d arrested in a saloon busted out of jail, got tighter that they already were and came looking for him in a dark alley with knives and Jared saved his life. This was their first meet. He doesn’t like Andrew whom he considers a fortune hunter. - Brian Clark middle aged black man with a twisted hand. He has short curly hair with a thread of gray in it. His face is scarred but not as old as the eyes in it. He works for Beale taming his horses for 6 years already. He appeared out of the dark one November morning carrying a saddle over his shoulder. Beale never asked where Clark came from or why he was on foot. He was in the army at tenth cavalry – the Buffalo soldiers. He sends part of his salary to his family. - John Garmon is another of Beale’s wranglers and is going to testify against Brian Clark robbery case. He is middle aged and over 6 fit and muscular. He hates Negroes. He is from Mississippi. John Garman has a problem with gamble. - Old man Ted Marlowe is the owner of the dry good store in Forth Worth, Texas. He is over 6 feet 2 and muscular. He is severely beaten and robbed in a hundred dollars. He went in comatose he wake up but can remember who did it to him, because the person attacked him from behind. Brian Clark was accused of doing it. - City detective Sims, a tall, skinny and foxy man. He is racist, and is overly rough with Mexicans and blacks when arresting them. - Police officer, is planning to run as sheriff in the next election. So he decided not risk his future job on a city detective’s brutality. He also fancied himself as a gunman-wore his holster low on his hips thigh and liked to draw his colt with little or no provocation. The police chief had found him troublesome ever since he’d been hired - Matt Davis is mentioned when Jared needed someone to investigate John Garmon’s name against Pinkerton’s files. Matt kept a copy of those he’d worked with during his Pinkerton days.   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Sep-06-07, 02:17 PM (EST)   2. "RE: Diana's Historical Books complete info" In response to message #1   Founding Father 1) Publication Date-2003 (My copy is in A Hero’s Kiss), ISBN-0-373-83562-0 2) Characters- Big John Jacobs (his full name was John Jackson Jacobs page31) was 35 years old (page 16), and he was “tall, rawboned, with deep-set green eyes the color of bottle glass, and thick dark brown hair. He came from Irish immigrants (page 23), so he didn’t like the signs, “No Colored or Irish Need Apply.“ His lean, rough face had scars left over from the War Between the States” (page 9). John has a sister, Jeanette, who is married and lives with her husband on their farm in North Carolina (pages 17, 129). John was against slavery, and even though his family couldn’t afford help, he said he would hire men, not buy slaves (pages 22-24). “The attack by the Union troops had mistakenly been aimed at the sharecroppers’ cabin John and his mother and sisters occupied, instead of the house where the owner’s vicious overseer lived. The house had caught fire and John’s mother and elder sister had burned to death. John had not been able to save them” (page 129). John has a ranch in southeast Texas (page 10). John went to Terrance Colby (Colby is a railroad magnate) because John needed a railroad near his ranch so he could transfer cattle from his ranch to other states, like Kentucky (pages 10-11). John thought that Ellen was charming, has a sense of humor, the ability to laugh at herself, and she behaved with dignity (page 25). Camellia Ellen Colby is Terrance Colby’s daughter, who is known as unmarried and unmarriageable (page 12). Ellen is 24 (page 45), she had dark hair which was worn in a bun and blue eyes in a pleasant but not attractive face. She was also slight and thin (page 14). John and Ellen met when Ellen slipped on her hem and fell face first into a mud puddle and her companion left her because he was already late for an appointment (page 13). Ellen’s mother passed away giving birth to a stillborn son, and she also had a fever (page 65). Ellen’s Grandmother Greene is very correct and formal and was against Ellen being told that her mother died giving birth (page 65). John and Ellen had 3 sons and 2 daughters, but only one son and one daughter lived to adulthood (page 131). 3) Secondary Characters- Deputy Marshal James Graham (page 14) Sir Sydney Blythe-railroad magnate (page 15) Terrance Colby Grandmother Greene Thunder (page 100) Red Wing (page 100) John’s Staff (pages 33-35, 72-77) Mary Brown Isaac Brown Brown kids-Ben, Libby and Joe Luis Rodriguez 4) Pets- Ellen’s father Terrance has a dog *history of Ty and Shelby Jacobs (page s 132-133) Blurb from back of book: Discover how legends were made when Jacobsville founding father Big John Jacobs weds the daughter of a prosperous railroad tycoon! Will passion blaze when this fortune-seeking Long, Tall Texan brands his sweetly unassuming wife with his soul-searing kisses? Sarah Lehman Berkley, MI   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Oct-21-07, 10:04 AM (EST)   3. "RE: Diana's Historical Books complete info" In response to message #2   The Savage Heart 1) Publication date: October 1997, by the Ballantine Publishing Group. ISBN# 0-449-00334-5 2) Characters Raven Following / Matt Davis Aged 32, Sioux Indian who lived at Pine Ridge. He has a strongly boned face, onyx eyes, long thick black hair, wide powerful shoulders, and graceful hands. He has a temper like a rattler when provoked. He has an innate dignity and elegance, reputation for courage and keen intelligence. His father died at Little Bighorn, and his mother and sisters were killed at Wounded Knee. He was badly injured also - his back is puckered with scars and he suffered a collapsed lung. Moved to Chicago, changed his name, and joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He started his own detective agency 2 years before the story starts. He is a minor celebrity with a dime novel called 'Magnificent Matt Davis' written about him the year before. People think he is exiled Russian royalty, or alternately an Arab or Spanish. He is ashamed of the Sioux primitive existence, and is too educated to belong with war paint but doesn't fit in a white world. Nor does he believe in mixed marriages. Tess Meredith Aged 26, with long blonde hair, pale green eyes, full soft lips and long thick eyelashes. Described as pretty but the attraction goes beyond the physical because of her soft heart, stubborn independence, and unbroken spirit that no man can tame. Tess was able to ride, fish and hunt like a warrior and she could speak Lakota and track deer by the time she was 14. Bill Cody offered her work in his Wild West Show. She feels Sioux inside has always loved Matt but won't settle for anything less than the same passion returned. She is the savage heart of the title. 3) Storyline Prologue starts in 1891, Matt has lost his entire family and has recovered his health 8 months after Wounded Knee. He is leaving for Chicago and Old Man Deer performs a protective ritual over him and Tess. Main story starts in November 1903, when Tess arrives in Chicago, two months after her father died. Matt introduces her as a cousin and settles into the boarding house, nursing duties and suffragette meetings. At a march, she is injured and requires stitches. It appears to be a sword wound and Matt starts to investigate who would want to hurt her, tracing the clues to Dennis Collier and that Nan is having an affair. Matt becomes increasingly protective of Tess but warns her they will never be more than friends. Dennis is murdered, and his wife Nan is put in jail. Tess and Matt try to prove her innocence, discovering her lover is underworld chief, Diamond Jim. Matt takes Tess to a ball as a cover while meeting Jim. She looks beautiful and he is so jealous of the attention she gets that they leave. They stop on the shore of Lake Michigan and they almost make love. He admits that he has wanted her since she was 14 but he won't risk half-breed children and her being an outcast. Tess admits that she wants no other lover but him and doesn't care about the consequences. The stalemate is broken when Tess is asked to leave the boarding house after another suffragette march ends in a riot. She enters Matt's room to inform him and finds him undressed. They make love, moving from the squeaky bed to the floor, so no one can hear them. It was amazing, exquisite and reverent. Matt admits that the ritual all those years ago was a wedding ceremony. Tess moves in with the O'Hara girls while Matt uncovers Edith as the murderer. While Matt earns the respect of police, Diamond Jim and his own detectives, he realizes that he can lead the life he chooses without people prying into his background. He feels less conservative and breaks out by appearing in full regalia and war bonnet for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The photo appears in the Chicago Daily Times and Matt sends Tess a copy with 'Would you marry this man?' written on it. Tess instantly agrees. A Christmas wedding is arranged with Stanley giving her away. Epilogue in Autumn 1938, has Matt and Tess witnessing their youngest child being sworn in as the first female in public office in Illinois. Their son is a famous trial lawyer fighting for minority rights, especially Sioux. They look back at the milestones in their life together - Tess jailed to get women's vote in 1920, the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924 - their circle of friends, including Nan and Jim, their accomplished children and most of all their love, shared together in one soul. 4) Back-cover blurb: The Savage Heart, a fiery story of a woman with big dreams and a man who has nothing left to believe in - except her. Tess Meredith and Raven Following shared freedom and friendship on the wild Montana plains. But brutal hardships that plagued the Sioux forced Raven to abandon his people, his heritage - and Tess. In Chicago, he forged a new life as a new man with a new name until Tess arrived, bringing with her the past he'd tried to deny. But Tess was a fighter, and she would harness all the courage and spirit of life gone forever to wage her greatest battle . for love. 5) Children - son and daughter 6) Pets - none. 7) Other Characters: *Dr Harold Meredith - Tess' father. Deeply kind, wonderful man and skillful physician *Lieutenant Smalley - Montana Soldier pestering Tess for marriage. He never bathed and always had crumbs in his moustache *Mrs. Mulhaney - Runs boarding house from her elegant brownstone in Chicago. Tiny woman, with grey-streaked blond hair that is always worn in a bun, and blue eyes. Along with the other boarders, Miss Clara Barkley and Ida Deane, disapproves of Tess. *Nan Collier - Tess' friend who attends suffragist meetings behind her husbands' back but they become the excuse to cover her affair. Not educated but intelligent and kind. Husband has beaten her for not completing chores or being 'stupid', but she refuses help from her sister. *Dennis Collier - Telegraph clerk, wife-beater, opium addict with vicious temper and rich friends *Edith Greene - Nan's sister. Tall, thin and severe-looking with blue eyes. 15 years older than Nan, their other 4 siblings died in childhood. *Officer Brian Greene - Edith's big and burly, policeman husband *Daisy - Suffragette. Unattractive older woman. Hates men. Student *Mick Kennedy - Driver that Matt hired. Jaunty Irishman from Cork, who lost his wife and daughter. Tess calls him a prince of a man. *Dr Barrows - Local doctor who fixes Tess' arm *Mrs. Hayes - elderly lady hired by Matt to care for an injured Tess. Married for love to a tugboat skipper and has 3 children. *Stanley Lang - 22, fair, tall and gangly, the youngest and most enthusiastic of Matt's detectives. Garner is Matt's secretary and Riley Blair is the most senior agent. *Marsh Bailey - Young amputee who lost his leg and budding baseball career in a carriage accident. Tess nurses him and he becomes obsessed with her. An opium addict who eventually over-doses. *Miss Fish - aka The Barracuda. Very strict Matron on Tess' ward. Wears starched skirts and makes life hell on juniors. *Jim Kilgallen - aka Diamond Jim. Kingpin of most illegal operations in Chicago, owning saloons, two distilleries and the biggest slaughterhouse in the city. Deep set grey eyes, wavy jet black hair, olive skin, broad leonine face, and thin moustache. His grandfather was Cree. Nan's lover and father of her child. *Madame Dubois - elegant clothier. Makes a ball gown for Tess. *Michael Boson - wealthy, lazy, young man, recently in hospital where he flirted outrageously with Tess. Scared of Matt. *Daphne Mallory - lovely young woman with dark hair. Matt worked on an embezzlement case for her father, Hart. *Ellen O'Hara - suffragette who got arrested with Tess. Good Irish girl works as a maid, along with her younger sisters. Lives in a ramshackle house near railroad depot. Offers lodgings to Tess. *Lily - 17 year old prostitute visited by Dennis. Not pretty but with quiet dignity. MENTIONED IN OTHER BOOKS: *Jared Dunn - Damned good trial lawyer in Texas. Served in Cuba with Matt. Married with a baby son. Efy   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Oct-21-07, 10:06 AM (EST)   4. "RE: Diana's Historical Books complete info" In response to message #3   Midnight Rider 1) Publication date: October, 1998 by Fawcett/Ivy Books. ISBN# 0-449-00324-8. 2) Characters: Count Eduardo Rodrigo Ramirez y Cortes. Aged 36, handsome as a dark angel - sharp-faced, olive-skinned, black-eyed and dangerous. Thin, cruel-looking mouth with a slash down one cheek from an alleged knife fight. He has dark places in his soul and became known for his majestic rages, and threatening icy manner after his wife found with a bullet in her head. Family with royal connections from Granada, Spain. His great grandfather built the ranch, named Rancho Escondido, on an old Spanish land grant. His father was a titled Spanish count who died when he was 8 and his mother was an American socialite who ignored him. His grandmother took him to Spain and later arranged his marriage. His wife, Consuela, was quiet, introspective and dignified but this hid her disturbed mental state. They made love twice, and nine months later, their son arrived. She went mad after, starving the child to death and committing suicide. Bernadette Barron. Aged 20, platinum blond hair with soft green eyes, high cheekbones and slender but rounded figure with small breasts. She loves gardening, but is limited by her fragile asthma. She admires Teddy Roosevelt, who had asthma as a child but was now governor of New York. She rides like a cowboy and secretly learned Spanish to understand staff and Eduardo. She is spirited, quick-tempered, even fiery and outrageous, with an appealing innocence and honesty, and a forgiving nature. She works on her father's ranch to balance books and accounts, budgets and pays accounts - a skill she inherited from her mother. Her father has no gratitude because she is a reminder of his wife's death, and a burden. She is something of a women's libber, and has a fear of childbirth because her mother and sister died that way. She has secretly loved Eduardo for years - the reason her heartbeat. 3) Storyline: Starts in SW Texas, 1900. Colston Barron is determined to marry his daughter to a titled gentleman so that his family is accepted and respected by society. He plans a ball to introduce her to the suitors he has chosen. One of them makes a pass at her, and she is discovered in a disheveled state by Eduardo, who is secretly stirred by her and he carries her home after she suffers an asthma attack. Eduardo is facing bankruptcy, and he is too proud to ask his grandmother for money, so he asks her father formally for marriage. Bernadette wants to marry for love and resents being sold for a title, but Eduardo convinces her that their marriage will give her freedom and independence. He offers an alliance of friends, slaking of passions but no pretend love. Bernadette loves him enough for the both of them and agrees. Bernadette runs away from the ball when Eduardo is delayed. He follows after her, after confronting her father over his callous and inadequate parenting. They stay out all night, thereby guaranteeing that gossip will force them to marry. They make a pact to take care of each other. There is an engagement party on their return - he gives her the emerald and gold Ramirez betrothal bracelet and ring dating from the 16th century - which fit perfectly - a good omen. Two days later, his grandmother arrives with Lupe, a potential wife for Eduardo. Due to gossip, he must marry Bernadette to save her reputation. Lupe and his grandmother make life difficult for the wedding preparations, trying to change his mind and drag out the time. Bernadette goes to New York to meet with physician and arrange her wedding dress. They ruin the wedding day with lies to poison Eduardo's mind against Bernadette and they end up in separate beds. She denies nothing and advises him that she will leave him in 2 weeks to visit her brother. He is upset that she will leave during the honeymoon, but she is equally upset that his family has invaded her honeymoon. The impasse is settled during a night of insane passion. The next day Bernadette has the courage to confront them. His grandmother is ashamed but will not back down, so Bernadette throws a pitcher of cream on her and leaves. She develops a serious asthma attack at her father's home and Eduardo rides like hell to get her forgotten medicine. He admits he loves her in Spanish (which she understands) and Bernadette becomes more confident and actually befriends his grandmother after Lupe leaves. Bernadette takes over the book-keeping, correcting a lot of mistakes with her amazing talent, and they climb back to prosperity. 4) Back-cover blurb A dazzlingly sensual story of turn-of-the-century Texas, of a man as enigmatic and forbidding as the sun-drenched land - and the woman who dares to cross into the uncharted territory of his heart. To Bernadette Barron, Eduardo Cortes was the enemy. A noble count with a sprawling ranch in the grand state of Texas, Cortes challenged her with dark, penetrating eyes that seemed to pierce her very soul. Could he see the burning truth: that she loved him? It is a secret Bernadette vows to keep - especially now that she is to become his wife. For theirs is a marriage bargain, pure and simple. He needs a rich wife to save his ranch, she needs a titled husband. Yet desire will turn a marriage of convenience into a passionate battle of wills, and change an innocent girl into a woman aware of her own powers of attraction. For it is love's fiery initiation that will make Bernadette aware of her own capacity for pleasure as well as her husband's skill at providing it. And it is the sheer force of her own love that will giver her newfound strength to battle against the odds to claim a man and a love that will not be denied. 5) Children: have twins, a boy and a girl, at the end of the book. 6) Pets: none 7) Other Characters : Not mentioned in other books: *Colston Barron - Bernadette's father, who has always blamed her for the death of his beloved wife. Irish immigrant in his mid-50's with red hair, red face, bow legs, big nose and ears that stick out. He is an honest, determined and impatient man, who started work on the railroads (Union Pacific) in his late twenties and built an empire with steely strength and focused determination. He owns 2 railroads after 33 years in the business, as well as half of Valladolid County - midway between San Antonio and Del Rio. He lacks breeding and manners, thereby lacking acceptance and respect from elite society. He built a huge Victorian mansion for his family. *Eloise Barron - Bernadette's mother, who died giving birth to her. Bernadette's sister (no name given) also died in childbirth. Albert Barron - Bernadette's big brother. He refused a social match by his father, and married for love. He was poor and kept minimal contact with his father. Became a fisherman in Maine, and given a boat by his father-in-law. *Maria - the Barron's cook. *Eduardo's mother - no name given. Beautiful, blond San Antonio socialite who held her first husband in contempt because he would not give her parties. She was with her latest lover, when her husband died from despair at her profligate ways (Eduardo aged 8). She drained the ranch of money before marrying a New York millionaire with German/Irish background. *Condessa Dolores Maria Cortes - Eduardo's grandmother and matriarch of the family, and direct descendant of Queen Isabella of Spain. Tiny, white-haired woman who had a hard life because her husband had a mistress all his married life and grief over her son. She disapproves of American women because of Eduardo's mother, and arranged his first marriage as well as trying for a second. Bernadette describes her as venomous, and memorably pours a pitcher of cream on her head, before earning her respect. *Lupe de Rias - Grandmother's next choice of wife. She's beautiful with black hair and eyes, a face like an angel, Spanish poise, breeding and wealth. She wears clouds of heavy perfume - purposely to set off Bernadette's asthma. *Luis Cortes - Eduardo's cousin in Spain and grandmother's favorite. A shrewd, young blade with big eyes and grandiose plans who would love to see Eduardo fail. He married his grandmother's choice of bride and has one son. *Carlita - Eduardo's cousin from Mexico City. *Claudia - Eduardo's cook. Has son, aged 3, and daughter, aged 4. *Mr. Clem & Mrs. Maribeth Meriwether - husband and wife owners of the dry goods store. Sell Bernadette a Paris gown. *Mrs. Maude Carlisle - former social secretary to one of the New York Astors, and wife of prominent retired army officer in San Antonio. She arranges the ball for Colston. *Cumming Macdonough - Scottish immigrant with sons who built local golf course. *Dr Harold Metter - young physician , prescribed (opiate) sedatives for asthma. *Mr Jakes - runs the local hardware store. *Charles Ramsay - English suitor. *Klaus Branner - German Duke, late 40's, short, blonde and paunchy. *Carlo Moretti - Italian nobleman, talked guns and hunting. MENTIONED IN OTHER BOOKS: *Mr. & Mrs. Culhane - prominent Texas family from El Paso. 2 of 3 sons vacationing on a cruise. Were to attend the ball but back out due to problems near home. info by Efy   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Amy Member since Jun-17-04 13984 posts Nov-18-07, 04:56 PM (EST)   5. "RE: Diana's Historical Books complete info" In response to message #4   1. Annabelle’s Legacy published in the book Love’s Legacy with multi-authors. 1996 2. Hero/Heroine: Hero: John Torrance, 36, a wounded Texas Ranger who is very tall, very dark, with eyes the color of peridots. He has thick white scars running down his cheek from Yaquis who gave him a “going-over” in Mexico. He also walks with a limp. He is illiterate. Heroine: Annabelle Coleman, 20, a St. Louis native recently moved to El Paso, she has blond hair, green eyes and an oval face. She loves books, especially an heirloom book handed down from mother to daughter in her family. 3. Blurb from back cover: Imagine a book-a love story- so hauntingly romantic, so emotionally powerful that it changes the lives of all who read it. Eleven of the greatest romance writers in the world have envisioned such a tale and brought it to life, creating a heartfelt personal legacy: a volume dedicated to the cause of literacy in the United States. Between these covers are noble knights and dashing swashbucklers, penniless waifs and beautiful belles-all those whose destinies have been touched by . . .Love’s Legacy. 4. This is a stand alone book- no children are involved 5. No pets 6. Secondary characters (no books yet for any as this is a stand alone novel) include: *Annabelle’s parents, her mother who is similar in appearance to Annabelle and her father, Edwin, who is tall and dark. Edwin works for the Texas and Pacific Railway *Annabelle’s younger sisters, Rose and Jane 7. Plot summary: John Torrance asks Annabelle Coleman to teach him to read. While teaching him, Annabelle and John fall in love. John feels he has little to offer Annabelle but when she helps save his life, they decide to marry. In time, they have 3 children, including a daughter to whom Annabelle passes down her heirloom book. Janet , Illinois   Alert | IP Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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