Shattered Rainbows

Mary Jo Putney

Topaz (Penguin) 1996 368 pp.

Though the so-called step back covers have got to substantially increase the cost of paperback fiction, the couple behind the foil and rainbow outer front was so hideously out of period and unlike what I imagined to be the characters'appearance I'm glad I didn't have to look at it. (It's a pity, though the rainbow was pretty, that the graphic design didn't incorporate some kaleidoscopic patterns, which would have posed some real opportunities. But I suppose we're all thought so stupid by the marketing people that they figured we'd then mistake the book for one set during the Age of Cathedrals.)

This was obstensibly the end of Putney's Fallen Angels series, though as it happens my favorite two characters in it---Reggie (The Rake) and Stephan (Rose) aren't technically part of the original foursome at all. The structure of the novel, divided into two books titled "The Road to Hell" and "The Road to Heaven" respectively, immediately appealed to me, for such an old fashioned device is eminently suitable for a story set in the regency period. Unfortunately, the first half of the book is set during the Battle of Salamanca. Having read two harrowing accounts of battles from roughly that period---one, in Georgette Heyers' An Infamous Army and the other, I believe called Zemandar, an obscure freebie someone gave me, but nevertheless explicated such exact details as the loss of the besieged victims' teeth (from starvation), I wasn't thrilled to be presented the scenario again.

Since the book neither glossed over the evils of the battlefield, nor detailed them in with the kind of thoroughness that allowed me to consider the two previously mentioned at least educational, if not enjoyable, I admit to having struggled. As would be expected, the male protagonist was a soldier, the female a nurse. As usual. Also she was good, sweet, kind, perfect---St. Catherine, in fact, and thus the setup got not one but two of my hot buttons. And she was married to someone else, and while I appreciated (very much) the characters' effort not only to act with propriety, but also to live internally with proprietary...it could get dull. No crackling, innuendo laden dialog here!

Perhaps the most interesting part of the first half was a primitive blood transfusion. Though I was only able to derive an imperfect idea of how it was accomplished, I found even that much of the description fascinating. (As a special bonus, the author reveals the blood type of one of the participants---not the one I would have expected, nor the blood type I would have expected---and it's the same fairly unusual one as mine.) In fact, unlike the battle sequences, I generally found the medical procedures interesting, and would have enjoyed more and more thorough scenes of them. I also liked the motif of the kaleidoscope---I have several of my own---and wished it had been used more. And yes, the manner in which Michael Kenyon, the male protagonist, escapes dying is clever, and very apropos.

If the first half of the book reeks a little too strongly of reality, then the second half, though more enjoyable for me, comes off rather implausibly. It is several years later, and Catherine is widowed, destitute, and responsible for her pubescent daughter. She is offered a nearly feudal position on a remote island by its dying lord (her up to now unknown grandfather) but he isn't willing to hand his fiefdom over to a mere woman. No, she's got to have a husband. She recruits Michael Kenyon, who owes his life to her nursing, to portray her dead spouse. Unwilling to risk his offering to support her financially, or worse, marry her out of pity, she doesn't tell him her real husband is dead, thereby setting up nearly the only hook the author has for misunderstanding between such saintly characters.

She has other reasons for not wishing to marry again as well as pride, but I wish Putney had started setting them up in book I; perhaps she didn't want to for fear of making Catherine's first husband too sympathetic, but I still feel it was a mistake. Though in general I don't feel descriptions of orgasm have much to add to a story, the scenes in which Catherine and Michael work up to that point for the first time I found among the touching (pardon the pun) and romantic in the story, though I admit to suspecting their gentleness and possible improbability could very easily make others gag.

Given so few opportunities for misunderstandings between the principals, some of the plot comes from an exploration of the island, the landscape of which is given a fairly rich description, and its people and industries. (I wish there had been a little more detail than the 'I can't believe how self sufficient this island is'---a comment Catherine made at least twice too many times). Also driving the plot is the villain, who at least is believably drawn and has some depth to his character. Nevertheless, the way in which Michael and Catherine attempt to vanquish him forcibly reminded me of bad b-flicks from the 40s and 50s, of the sort where the hero comes riding over the hill at the last minute to untie the girl from the train tracks and fight a duel over her honor. Catherine wasn't that bad a wimp, I'm happy to report, but I did feel the climax was nearly that preposterous, like those old fashioned plot lines resuscuitated and cleaned up a bit with just enough feminism for the 90s audience. Not my cup of tea, and perhaps a bit silly, but at least entertaining and reasonably well done silliness. Two and a half stars. (Better than average)

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Sylvus Tarn

Last modified: Thu Sep 10 21:16:37 EDT 1998