Part of Series
Having inherited a considerable fortune from her American Godmother, the beautiful young debutante, Zarina Bryden, really is the belle of the ball throughout London Society, wooed by an endless parade of insincere suitors in love with her money and not with her. Both her mother and father have died and so she is an orphan, but a very rich one indeed. So when her uncle and Guardian insists that she should marry the middle-aged Duke of Malnesbury, she is appalled at the idea and refuses point blank. She then hears the sad news that her childhood friend, Rolfe, now the Earl of Linwood, is being forced to sell the neighbouring Priory with all its contents and its huge estate to pay off the accumulated debts of his now dead elder brother, He is just about to start an auction for everything he owns when Zarina arrives to dramatically save the day with her huge fortune and she comes up with a cunning plan. She makes an offer to use her inheritance to pay all The Priory’s debts and avoid the auction if only Rolfe will make her his fiancée, thereby making marriage to the Duke impossible. Reluctantly Rolfe agrees to her plan as he really has no other option. And he also persuades Zarina to travel with him on a voyage to India – and she accepts his offer to escape a loveless marriage and perhaps to find a true love of her own at the end of the long voyage.
Author
Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland was a English writer, during her long career, she wrote over 700 books, making her one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century. She sold over 1,000 million copies throughout the world, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The world's most famous romantic novelist, she also wrote autobiographies, biographies, health and cookery books, and stage plays and recorded an album of love songs. She was often billed as the Queen of Romance, and became one of the United Kingdom's most popular media personalities, appearing often at public events and on television, dressed in her trademark pink and discoursing on love, health and social issues. She started her writing career as a gossip columnist for the Daily Express. She published her first novel, Jigsaw, a society thriller, in 1923. It was a bestseller. She went on to write myriad novels and earn legions of fans, she also wrote under her married name Barbara McCorquodale. Some of her books were made into films. Ever the romantic, during WWII, she served as the Chief Lady Welfare Officer in Bedfordshire. She gathered as many wedding dresses as she could so that service brides would have a white gown to wear on their wedding day. She also campaigns for the rights of Gypsies, midwives and nurses. Barbara Cartland McCorquodale passed away on 21 May 2000, with 160 still unpublished manuscripts, that are being published posthumously.
