One Perfect Rose

Putney, Mary Jo

Publisher: Fawcett Gold Medal, Ballantine Publishing Group, div. Random House? (whatever). copyright 1997, 421pp. $5.99,

Well, gee. Since I went to the trouble of scanning in the cover, I might as well write the review, hmmmm? Ideally, reviews ought to be written shortly after reading the book; and I first read this book two or three years ago. However, as a sop, I note that I've read it several times since then, and recall it reasonably well. Plus, I still have the book on my shelves, and can refer to it. To get the names of the main characters, for example...at least, I know the title (another reviewer called it One Shattered Rose and gave away the plot in to the bargain. Shame!)

Putney's protagonists have a rather American sensibility to them; at any rate, they're casual and often outrageous by what I (an american, you'll notice) judge to be regency sensibilities. But her stories are generally entertaining and well-written, and she knows more than most about the customs and history of the era, as when Stephen casually derives the location of one farm building from the layout of some others.

Stephen Kenyon, Duke of Ashburton, learns from his physician that he has only a short time to live; and having lived a passionless, controlled life at the behest of others, decides to spend his last days free from his responsiblities, and sets off to tour the English countryside incognito. His heroic rescue of a little boy soon puts him in the path of a traveling acting troupe, and he becomes entranced by the lovely, widowed Rosalind Jordan. Interested in theatricals, he soon becomes a part of the troupe, even to the point of acting bit parts in their plays.

I've never been a fan of the macho masterful types, but I did love the scene in which the normally gentle and easygoing Stephen not only played midwife but put some obnoxious local bureaucrats squabbling over the fate of the unwed mother in their place into the bargain. Despite his ill-health, he cannot resist pursuing the lovely Rosalind. I have to admit, I rather wondered: was the author actually going to write an old-fashioned tragic romance in which the hero actually died?

Rosalind's character was less satisfactory, at least for me. She is an orphan, rescued by the troupe in early toddlerhood. She doesn't possess the histrionic abilities of the others; and like Stephen she's suffered an unsuccessful marriage. Her role in the troupe is property mistress and all around organizer, but it isn't really the life she wants.

It is a truism that although mysteries, and science fiction, and even mainstream fiction can be great love stories, seldom are typical love stories very good sf, or mystery, or horror. I did not like the resolution of Rosalind's past, which I thought was too easy. One of the book's real strengths, and points of interest, is Stephen's very real fear of dying; the author notes her thanks to someone who actually suffered cancer, and it shows. But again, the resolution seemed too easy and fanciful, after the realism of the man's fears.

These are nitpicks, and come more out of the novelist's need to satisfy the strict conventions of the genre. Oh, you can't stand to know whether the book has the traditional ending? I'm not gonna tell. However, if the suspense is so great you can't even wait long enough to read the book to find out, just check out other reviews. This is a charming book and well worth picking up; three stars.