Product Description

A brilliant, stylish novel encompassing the robust life of Boston and London, just at the time of greatest resentment and rebellion by the colonists against the British Government, and displaying the remarkably contemporary prejeudice shown by people on both sides. Makepeace Burke, keeper of a tavern on the waterfront in Boston, could no more watch a fellow creature drown than she could stop the wind blowing. But the price she paid for rescuing an English aristocrat after he had been attacked by the mob was high. She might be a supporter of the more reasonable colonists but she had committed an apparently unforgiveable sin. So her inn became deserted, her brother was tarred and feathered, and her respectable fiancee and his family deserted her. When the Patriots turned to burning her home, she knew she had to take the offer of the much despised Englishmen and so, saved by the Navy and accompanied by her remarkable retinue, she sails for London. She marries her Englishman as his second wife but finds that English society does not easily accept uneducated, colonial, ex-tavernkeepers -- and the first wife, well connected and refusing to acknowledge a divorce, proves a dirty fighter. But Makepeace, having been chased out of one town by intolerance, is not going to let that happen again. And the reader is rooting for her all the way. Diana Norman has written an unusual, sparkling novel, truly unputdownable -- she is an addictive taste.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #218953 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
Praise for earlier writing: 'Drama, passion, intrigue and danger, I loved it and didn't want it to end ever.' Maureen Waller, Sunday Times 'Quite simply, splendid' Frank Delaney 'She captures the feel of the period, with wit, verve and emotion. I hated coming to the end of the book.' Woman's Own

About the Author
Diana Norman is married to film critic Barry Norman, and lives in Hertfordshire.

Customer Reviews

This book is a great catch!
What a wonderful novel! It is so full of surprises, whenever you think "Aha! I know just what is coming now!" you are wrong and the story takes an unsuspected turn that causes you to become "glued" to it. You really can't put it down! The plot, set in the 18th century (1765), is divided into three different parts corresponding to the three diferent locations where events take place. The main character, Makepeace Burkin, changes and evolves throughout the story, as she suffers the consequences of the "catch" the story begins with. Her solid puritan, egalitarian, business-oriented, no-nonsense American upbringing has made her hard-working, obstinate and fiercely independent, and it is a help in the moral choices she is constantly confronted with. However, the novel is not moralistic at all, and neither is the main character. She is a lovely tavern owner and supporter of the American cause against the British tyrants, who cannot imagine her life is going to take such a drastic turn. She has to stretch her moral principles indeed to cover many of the unbelievable, unimaginable situations she is involved in. There are many historically relevant themes in the novel, which is set in such interesting times and is narrrated from the point of view of an outsider (a colonial, a woman) who travels to the metropolis, Britain, and does not see it with much sympathy: she generally distrusts and despises the ruling classes and is confronted with many a hilarious, almost surrealistic situation whenever she is in the company of the rigid British aristocratic crowd in their own sophisticated home (Yes. Makepeace finds herself and her eccentric , lovable "family" in the tyrants' lair, in London) . However, those looking for a very romantic novel should be warned that, even though there IS a wonderful and heart-warming love story, the author does not overindulge in the romantic side of things. In fact, she is quite frugal and leaves quite a lot for the readers' imagination.
The greatest strengths of the novel are: it is a VERY GOOD story well told (a really good yarn) and the characters are all ROUND and well FLESHED OUT, even those that we only see for two pages and then dissapear. The highly interesting atmosphere of the era is described through the events or actions that affect the characters, the author never gives encyclopedia-like explanations.In short, it is a wonder how so much atmosphere, so vibrating a story, and such eccentric but believable characters
can be created by the author in just about 400 pages! Don't miss it! You won't regret it.

Unputdownable
I was delighted to see another Diana Norman book appear, having read The Vizard Mask some years ago. A Catch of Consequence lives up to her earlier work. The historical detail is effortless, the characters compelling and engaging, and the plot gripping and unexpected, with a truly horrible pair of villains.

Norman doesn't write standard happily ever after romances, but her heroines do survive with grace and vigour and often end up with a good'un even if it isn't The One you start off thinking it will be. She does write compelling, page-turning historical fiction with a sure-footed grasp of her period and geography. If you haven't caught her before, I would recommend her.

Ebb, flow and tears
This is an extraordinarily enthralling book. I found it very hard to put down and, if it hadn't been for life, kids, work and the need for sleep, I doubt that I would have done. Diana Norman shows her artistry and descriptive powers in the first paragraph, and then astonishes with her ability to adapt, change tone and offer a gallery of narrative delights. Her palette changes and takes the reader from misty watercolours of still waters and a not-quite-afloat-or-dead body, through the brutal, stark dark and glaring contrasts of consuming fire.

Faced with challenges to her upbringing and very beliefs, Norman's central female character - Makepeace Burke - eventually acknowledges her love for her urbane, laconic and enigmatic portrait of an English Gentleman. Tantalisingly, I found this portrait less clear than that of Makepeace; I couldn't so crisply visualise him as I could her. She is the central figure and is explored and developed in a way that had me spellbound in awe. Whilst being utterly entranced by Makepeace, I wanted to know more about him; more about what he was doing - more than the hints and inferences on offer... but this near-teasing is so well-balanced; it permits Makepeace to be at the fore-front with his presence bolstering her innate strength, but not providing it. The characters, loyalty, friendships through fortune and adversity, all have their impact on the entrenched English class structure, and indeed, in some cases, their personal wars within or against it. And at the forefront of this disparate band, is Makepeace proudly asserting her American patriotism and loyalties. However, her English gentleman's status, vastly at odds with hers in the perceptions and values of 'society' provides a wedge, a conundrum for them both that is ultimately resolved and leads to Makepeace's next metamorphosis in a book of many.

She faces tragedy, treachery and ultimately triumph with everything from despairing, raging grief to granite-hard almost self-destructive vindictive and a long-established drive for revenge.

Makepeace Burke is a formidable, fascinating, surprising and ultimately whole person. The book that describes her shares all these qualities and I cannot recommend it highly enough.