The Lost Duke of Wyndham, Julia Quinn [Avon Books, Harper-Collins, 2008]

When I read the back cover of Julia Quinn’s newest book, The Lost Duke of Wyndham, and saw that the hero was a highwayman, I immediately thought of the classic epic poem called, ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes.  That poem is in the majority of 7th or 8th grade literature books  [it is filled with figurative language–a teacher’s delight].  The Highwayman has always been a favorite of mine because it’s so much fun to teach and discuss with students who are just discovering poetry.

A highwayman has a special appeal to me and so I bought this book and delved right in.   It didn’t disappoint.  Jack Cavendish-Audley is a charming, Robin Hood character.  He’s a highwayman and smooth as silk.  And just like in Alfred Noyes’s poem, his heart is true and he loves but one woman.

Stats:

Highwayman.  Rogue.  Swashbuckler.  He’s tall, dark, and handsome, rides a stallion name Lucy, and is trying desperately to hide elements of his past that he’d rather remain secret.  He has a deep appreciation for art and can read volumes into the paintings he admires.  He’s not so much into books, or reading of any kind, but a man of remarkable intelligence and impeccable manners, even when he’s robbing you blind.  JQ tends to give her heroes small disabilities that they are able to overcome–it makes the men real and vulnerable and Jack Audley is no exception.

The Look:

With his mask on, there’s not much to look at except his mouth.  “…his lips were so full of movement, so perfectly formed and expressive, that she almost felt she could see him.  It was odd.  And mesmerizing.  And more than a little unsettling.”

Jack has a smooth voice, like fine brandy, and eyes that are heavily-lidded and seductive.  His crooked smile is devilishly charming.  It hints at the secret things he’d like to do to a woman.  His clothes are well-worn [the dowager Duchess of Wyndham, aka Jack’s dear old Grandmama, would call them tattered and unacceptable].  He cleans up well, however, once he’s at Belgrave Hall.

Leading Lady:

Grace Eversleigh, companion to the dowager.  She’s an intelligent, impoverished innocent who is inexplicable smitten by the highwayman.  She reacts to his smile, then to his intelligence and appreciation of art, and finally to his visual caresses.  She’s an honorable woman who balances the [conceivably] in-honorable Jack [highwayman and all that].

The Final Analysis:

Find the Lost Duke of Wyndham!  It’s a fast read, a 3 course meal that is full of satisfying delights, and is as humorous as all of JQ’s other reads.  Jack Cavendish-Audley’s Robin Hood sensibility stems from his core and makes his plundering excusable, and even, one might say, acceptable and worth cheering.  He’s had his share of women [masterfully ensuring that no babies are sired by him], but he has saved his heart for Grace, and only Grace.

Question of the Day:

What is it about the Swashbuckler that is appealing?  Could you overcome the conceivably in-honorable traits of a highwayman?

The Frog Prince by Jane Porter

Warner Books, 2005

Part Sage and part Free Spirit, Holly Bishop, from Jane Porter’s The Frog Prince, is a pretty likable heroine.  Raised on white bread and fairy tales, her world falls apart when her happily ever after dissolves before her eyes.  Her beautiful husband Jean-Marc reveals after a year of marriage that, well, he’s just not that into her.  No attraction.  Nada.  Zilch.

So what does Holly do?  She moves to San Francisco where she works as an event planner.  

Stats:

Di-Vorced.  

Employed, but overworked and under-appreciated.

Mother issues.

Father issues.

Boss issues.

The Look:

Holly starts out a little soft around the edges [read: not in shape] but begins to workout and so gets a hard[er] body and is pretty shapely by the end in her ‘leather and lace’ outfit [“Elvira-meets-Dr. Frank N. Further costume the local Castro sex shop has so thoughtfully assembled”].  She’s pretty, but not beautiful.

Holly, stripped down:

“…I see a shimmer of my face in the reflective stainless steel of the elevator ceiling, and for a moment I understand what this man sees–good hair, good face, good look–but instinctively I know that what he wants isn’t me.

He has his own idea of me.  His own wish for me.  I’d be the woman he needs, not the woman I probably am, and it crosses my mind that all the hair and clothes and makeup we women wear just add to the deception.  Our exterior covers more than it reveals.

I’m not always so impeccably groomed, and I don’t want to be Barbie.  And yet to get the attention, many of us put our best face forward, the carefully plucked, arched eyebrow, the flawless foundation, the smooth matte lip liner with the smoother tawny lipstick.  It’s the illusion of a perfect face, but for me it’s not my real face.  My real face is like me.  Crooked.  Flawed.  Likable if you get to know it.  But most men don’t get to know it.  They get to know the shiny Holly, the Holly who cleans up well, the one who can talk sports and make pleasant conversation, and for most men, it’s enough.

For most men, that’s what they want.  Well, that and nice tits and a hopefully cellulite-free ass.  Oh, and also hot in bed, and a mouth that’s big enough to give a great blow job.  And the desire to give frequent head.  Have I forgotten anything?

I don’t think so.”

This passage from The Frog Prince hits the nail on the head.  This is the Fairy Tale, busted wide open.  What women present to the world [how we perpetuate our own fairy tale demise] and how all that does is set up expectations that can only be broken once our flaws are revealed.  Porter, via her character, Holly, is perceptive at times, and that’s what makes Ms. Bishop such a good heroine.  Her happily ever after doesn’t require a man.  He’s just a perk.

The Bottom Line:

While I didn’t like that Holly didn’t really seem to recognize that Brian saw her for who she was, I understand it.  Her fairy tale couldn’t have a prince at the end.  At one point she thinks: “…even Brian Faden, who is smart and clever, thoughtful and helpful, isn’t what I need.”  She discovers is that she needs to love herself.  It’s a fairy tale and she’s the love story.  The fact that she still was thinking about ‘Gorgeous Guy’ at the end of the book made the self-realization a tad incomplete for me, but it was still a satisfying ending and a good book.  A great beach or summer read.  

Holly Bishop has a fun, perceptive voice and I rooted for her, and really, what more can you ask for?  

Question of the Day:

I’m reading Flirting With Forty next.  What is your favorite Jane Porter book?    

 Is Nemo or his dad, Marlin, a bigger hero in the movie FINDING NEMO?  I think it’s a toss up.  They both undergo a huge change in their understanding of themselves and of each other.  And they both perform heroically in various scenes.  Today, I’ve chosen Marlin as my hero profile.  He’s a little bit charmer and a little bit professor and he’s all fish.STATS:Marlin is a clown fish who can’t manage to tell a funny joke.  He stops to explain his joke, thereby ruining the flow and punchline.  He lost his wife and million little babies to a baracuda attack at their anemone home and the tragedy left him full of fear for his one remaining fishy son, Nemo.THE LOOK:Orange, white and black.  He’s a looker.LEADING LADY:Dori, the memory-challenged blue fish that helps Marlin find Nemo and becomes his companion.  She challenges Marlin without trying by forcing him to face his insecurities and by bringing him into situations that require him to dig deep within himself in order to survive or overcome.  For example, when Dori joins three sharks and their Fish Are Not Food Recovery Meeting, Marlin must control his own fear in order to ensure that Dori is safe. Likewise, Marlin helps Dori reach inside herself and pull out memories that end up helping them find Nemo.  The two fish compliment each other and bring out the best of each other, and what more could a clown fish want from a platonic partner?THE BOTTOM LINE:Finding Nemo is a fanstastic movie full of character arcs, wrought with conflict, and deep with emotion.  Marlin is portrayed as a caring, if over-protective, dad who must learn to let his son make his own mistakes.  It’s a hard lesson for both Marlin and Nemo, especially when Nemo, in true teenage form, rebels and gets himself trapped in a dentist’s fish tank.  But it’s the heroic nature of Marlin, Nemo, Dori, and the fish in the tank that parallel the heroism that is in all of us.  Friendship, in fact, is the element that fosters the heroism in these characters. FINDING NEMO contains lessons for all of us, and the characters, particularly Marlin and Nemo [for us parents] exemplify the heriosm that we may not always see in ourselves and in our children.Question of the Day:Is Nemo or Marlin more of a hero in FINDING NEMO?

 /  Just an aside before you read today’s profile (Virna’s skipping her column this week)… I’m soon to live in the south [Texas, though, not Georgia] and I’m here now house-hunting, totally stressed as we work out contract details, missing my kids, and reading Gone With the Wind for book club.  Please forgive yet another reference to my favorite book, but how could I not write about a Southern hero?  And one that I love so much! And now, with no further adieu… 

Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell, Scribner, 1936)  Rhett Butler: Bad Boy/Charmer/Swashbuckler Rhett Butler might well be one of the original bad boys/charmers/swashbucklers of the south.  He’s the quintessential scoundrel–a blockader during the Civil War and a man who is not received in Atlanta or in Charleston.  Despite his bad reputation [in a time when reputation is everything], he’s full of charisma and heavy on charm.   In Rhett’s own words, however, he describes himself thusly: “…I’m a damned rascal and no gentleman…”    No wonder he’s so loved by women everywhere!  

STATS:   35 years old to Scarlett’s 18 [remember, these were the days of the Civil War] and over 6 feet tall.  Black hair, black eyes, a slightly black soul, and connected with “something pleasantly scandalous” but lovable nonetheless.  

THE LOOK: “He was a tall man and powerfully built.  Scarlett thought she had never seen a man with such wide shoulders, so heavy with muscles, almost too heavy for gentility.  When her eye caught his, he smiled, showing animal-white teeth below a close-clipped black mustache.  He was dark of face, swarthy as a pirate, and his eyes were as bold and black as any pirate’s appraising a galleon to be scuttled or a maiden to be ravished.  There was a cool recklessness in his face and a cynical humor in his mouth as he smiled at her, and Scarlett caught her breath.   She felt that she should be insulted by such a look and was annoyed with herself because she did not feel insulted.  She did not know who he could be, but there was undeniably a look of good blood in his dark face.  It showed in the thin hawk nose over the full red lips, the high forehead  and the wide-set eyes.” “There was mockery in everything he said.  [Scarlett] disliked him heartily, lounging there against the booth.  But there was something stimulating about him, something warm and vital and electric.”   

LEADING LADY: “All that was Irish in her rose to the challenge of his black eyes.  She decided she was going to take this man down a notch or two.  His knowledge of her secret gave him an advantage over her that was exasperating, so she would have to change that by putting him at a disadvantage somehow.  She stifled her impulse to tell him exactly what she thought of him.  Sugar always caught more flies than vinegar, as Mammy often said, and she was going to catch and subdue this fly, so he could never again have her at his mercy.” Rhett’s thoughts on Scarlett:  “On the occasion of our first eventful meeting I thought to myself that I had at last met a girl who was not only beautiful but who had courage…When I first met you, I thought: There is a girl in a million.  She isn’t like these other silly fools who believe everything their mammas tell them and act on it, no matter how they feel.  And conceal all their feelings and desires and little heartbreaks behind a lot of sweet words.  I thought: Miss O’Hara is a girl of rare spirit.  She knows what she wants and she doesn’t mind speaking her mind–or throwing vases.” At one point in Gone With the Wind, Rhett, who says more than once that he’s not the marrying kind, proposes that Scarlett become his mistress.  Ever the pragmatic, Scarlett’s response is that she’ll get nothing out of that arrangement other than a passel of brats.  So much for propriety and a ladylike upbringing.   But then Rhett likes Scarlett’s lack of propriety and unladylike behavior. He says that he never does anything with a specific purpose and he never gives anything without expecting something in return.  He “always gets paid”.  He tells her that her beaux have treated her with far too much respect and that she needs kissing by someone who knows how to kiss.  Ahhh… The question is, has he met his match in Scarlett O’Hara? 

BOTTOM LINE: Rhett Bulter is like Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice.  He’s an original and he’s larger than life.  He comes from a different time and just as Ashley Wilkes, Rhett’s gentlemanly counterpart, represents all that is refined and idealistic in the Civil War south, so Rhett Butler represents all that is scandalous and daring and pushes us to think about the southerners who knew that “our Southern way of living is as antiquated as the feudal system of the Middle Ages.”  He refuses to “fight to uphold the system that cast [him] out.”   Just like Scarlett, Rhett isn’t afraid to say exactly what he thinks and feels, even if it goes against the conventional wisdom or the beliefs of the time.  He’s one of my all-time favorite heroes and he always will be.  

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Create your own analogy along the lines of “Rhett Butler being just like Mr. Darcy”.  Who are two larger than life heroes to you, either from past literature or from contemporary fiction? AND/OR Who is your all-time favorite hero from the past?