Mary Burchell’s romances are a lovely step back to the days when Harlequin published novels full of real people with real lives and heartfelt feelings. She reminds me somewhat of Betty Neels who also wrote emotional novels that are clean and fulfilling. Both authors chose words and syntax that are more complex than some contemporary authors, resulting in interesting books.
Accompanied by His Wife dates from 1982 and features main characters Patricia and Michael, plus 6 side characters including Michael’s mother, his wife Pat and Patricia’s former almost-fiancé Phil. Somehow Mary Burchell uses those 8 characters to show us two kind, gentle, highly moral people who hold themselves to fierce standards of right and wrong.
Patricia agrees to pretend to be Michael’s wife because real wife Pat left Michael on their honeymoon before before he came to see his mother who is very ill. Patricia and Michael like and respect each other from the get go but there is no hint of romance initially. In fact the two share a room and bed with zero impropriety; in fact Patricia is shocked that anyone would suspect Michael of taking advantage or of herself to respond to it.
Burchell uses Patricia’s interaction with Michael’s young cousin Deborah to show us Patricia’s character: calm, insightful, truthful. Patricia sees past Deborah’s acting up and doesn’t try to hide anything when Phil meets them at the zoo. Similarly, when Phil shows himself to be anything but a good guy Patricia has no problem choosing the straight and narrow, throwing his proposition back in his face, determined to be self-reliant, especially in preference to a sordid affair.
The plot is fun, a little different from most Harlequins but what makes the book work is the complete consistency in Michael and Patricia. Patricia is willing to be the accused Other Woman if wife Pat sues Michael for divorce, despite the hit to her reputation, if it means that Pat cannot bleed Michael for money. Michael is perfectly happy to give Pat a large sum if she will allow him to divorce her, thus leaving Patricia free from scandal. It’s pretty clear that both are falling in love but Patricia is rather slow to see it.
I enjoyed this very much. It was a relief to find a romance that packs so much emotion and character in with quality writing and a clean plot free of sex scenes. So many of the contemporary Harlequins are written for a mid-high school reading level and have more sex than plot or character. We can’t beat some of these older romances!
4 Stars
I got my copy from Thriftbooks and you may find copies on eBay. As of mid-November 2020 Amazon does not have this in any format.
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