Ambitions - Hardcover

How enjoyable to find a lively, lusty historical novel (Victorian England), with two engaging and believable heroines, without any of the stridency of some recent women's fiction. Howard lets her story tell itself, with plenty of plot, fortunes to be made, and a wealth of villains to overcome. Lacy Hemingway, rich and beautiful, and her maid Rachel O'Malley, survivor of a desperately impoverished Irish household, find their lives entangled after Lacy's impetuousness has caused her to be disowned. The two create a thriving shipping business andof courseare rivals only in love. The mid-1800s, both in England and abroad, are vividly sketched as background to this fast-moving romance. The contrast of vast power and degrading poverty is balanced and controlled by the author's sure command of her story. Recommended for all popular collections. Elsa Pendleton, M.L.S., Computer Sciences Corp., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The world created by Howard has been mined before, but the author of The Morning Tide is adept in fashioning an entertaining tale. Although it eventually succumbs to the cliches of the genre, this novel gets a real boost from its lively prose and gift for detailing both the under and upper crust of Victorian England. Sheltered, headstrong Lacy Hemingway runs afoul of her papa and leaves home in the dead of night with gritty Rose O'Malley, her maid and confidante. Having once escaped the teeming slums of Liverpool, Rose is reluctant to return, but the young women must throw themselves on the mercy of her relations. Hard work and Lacy's pawned jewels give them a stake with which they build a shipping empire that will rival Mr. Hemingway's. Cheerfully flouting rigid social rules that dictate a woman's place, the steadfast friends win out, only to be tested further by their love for the same man.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.