Silent Heart
copyright 1993 Deborah Siegenthal. Harequin Historical 185. $3.99. 296pp. ISBN 0-373-28785-2Therese, maid to Dominique Louise Alavoine Morineau, has a lot to bear. With the citizens of the new republic literally coming over the hill to burn down the Chateau Dumont and everyone in it, she must wait while her flighty mistress digs through her messy, disorganized possessions (though if Therese is such a hard worker, as her Uncle later compliments her, why did she let her mistress' belongings get into such a state?) for a locket of her parents, a bauble more likely to link Dominique with her parents---and therefore the death sentence her aristocratic heritage demands---than any of the other jewels they pack away. Naturally, Dominique never so much as looks at it again for the rest of the book (or manages to sell any of the jewels, for that matter.)
The patron saint of fools apparently being engaged on their behalf, the girls safely make it to Paris, to Therese's uncle's inn. His house---too full, presumably of family members not even mentioned, let alone met by either Therese or Dominique, who has taken the name of a former servent, Gabrielle---being unavailable, they stay in one of the inn's cellar rooms.
Despite the fact that neither can the Uncle afford to hire Dominque, she forever seems to be eating tarts and like in the kitchen. Therese finds herself with an unrewarding burden in her former mistress, for Dominique fails badly to fit in, falls in love with a hulking, stinking, mute stablehand, and worst of all is determined, though armed with nothing more than a blithe assumption of her powers of (nonexistant) discretion, to find her papa. Without invoking powerful and vigilant efforts of a guardian angel, that Dominque's isn't immediately captured requires suspension of disbelief well beyond my feeble abilities.
As the novel is set during the French Revolution and a person so important to the protagonist's happiness is in the prisons, it will hardly come as a surprise to the gentle reader that there is a subplot concerning a disguised rescuer of nobles, and all I have to say about it is that if such things are to the gentle reader's taste s/he is directed to the works of Baroness Orczy, or for the reverse twist, The Curse of Capistrano, newly re-released, I understand, as The Mask of Zorro.
Dominique's attraction to Alexandre the stablehand is rather puzzling, given that he spends most of his time silently mocking her. For one who is supposedly intelligent and widely read, as well as delicately bred, she adjusts remarkably easily to a life of hard work, no books (nor candles to read them by) nor any of the other pleasures typical of the intellectual. Nor is she deriving those comforts from her erstwhile lover, since, obviously, she can't have stimulating discussions with him: too mindlessly in lust, I guess, to care.
Much harder to figure out is Alexandre's attraction to the childish Dominique, who simply has no clue about anything---not about sex, not about Alexandre's changeable behavior, nor about the dangers and political intrigue swirling about the nation, nor especially about the tightening noose they represent towards her immature wish for ``her papa''. Apparently Alexandre's drowning in lust too, but as there are any number of women chasing after him, why he would pick one this ditzy, reckless and stupid is beyond me.
It's a pity, too, that there isn't more daily background, such as the 10 hour day, or new names for the days, or the simplified fashions, as well as the political events (rather better researched) literally resulting in bloodbaths. One and a half stars.
Sylvus Tarn Last modified: Sat Apr 21 13:43:59 EDT 2001
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