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Barbary Wharf #6
Surrender
They'd known heartache and passion. Would they find love?
Nick Caspian, the man who ran an entire European media empire, was obsessed. He wanted - needed - the one thing that seemed out of his reach - Gina Tyrrell's loyalty. They were joint owners of a London daily, and yet she had declared war on him. She was determined to restore her family's newspaper to its former glory, no mater what the cost.
But Gina had underestimated Nick Caspian. In any war between them, she would lose. He would use any weapon in his power to make her surrender - even if it meant toying with her emotions. And then he would have her loyalty and her love. But would Gina have anything in return?
Barbary Wharf is home to more than a newspaper. It's home to a group of men and women whose careers--and passions--are intertwined... .
Nick Caspian, the man who ran an entire European media empire, was obsessed. He wanted - needed - the one thing that seemed out of his reach - Gina Tyrrell's loyalty. They were joint owners of a London daily, and yet she had declared war on him. She was determined to restore her family's newspaper to its former glory, no mater what the cost.
But Gina had underestimated Nick Caspian. In any war between them, she would lose. He would use any weapon in his power to make her surrender - even if it meant toying with her emotions. And then he would have her loyalty and her love. But would Gina have anything in return?
Barbary Wharf is home to more than a newspaper. It's home to a group of men and women whose careers--and passions--are intertwined... .
188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published March 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Lamb
261 books313 followersSheila Ann Mary Coates Holland
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy
Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
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December 27, 2017
Re Surrender - Charlotte Lamb's epic six book, over twelve hundred page mini-series about the London daily paper, the Sentinel, finally comes to it's grand finale.
As always the players are pre-announced:
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK
NICK CASPIAN: International media tycoon. He is a ruthless and dangerous predator who set his eyes on owning the Sentinel and on destroying anyone who gets in his way.
GINA TYRRELL: The young widow of Sir George's beloved grandson, James and, following Sir George's death, the joint owner with Nick Caspian, of the Sentinel. She blames Nick for Sir George's death and vows to make him pay.
SIR DERMOT GASKELL: A senior Sentinel director who is determined to overthrow Nick Caspian. He has persuaded Gina Tyrrell to back him in a boardroom coup against Nick, and awaits the right opportunity.
COLETTE TSE: Ambitious and extremely attractive feature writer. She is determined to get to the top of her profession and will use any means at her disposal, including her dating of Nick Caspian, who seems particularly taken with her charms.
ALESSA CASPIAN: The independent and unconventional sister of Nick. She strikes up an immediate friendship with Gina Tyrrell and begins to confide in her all she knows about her irrepressible brother, much to Gina's curiosity and distress...
MR TAMAKI: One of Japan's, and indeed the world's, wealthiest tycoons. Adamant that his daughter Suki will realise her ambition to run a major newspaper, he has decided to take control of, if not buy the Sentinel for her. If that means the removal of Nick Caspian, then so be it!
This one starts with Hazel preparing to leave the Sentinel and start her new life with Piet in Holland, she is several months preggers at this point and Sophie, Nick's new secretary, is fully trained.
Gina is sad, mainly cause she wants children, more specifically she wants Nick's children, but that doesn't look very likely at this point. She and Nick are very estranged, he only shouts or glowers at her in the office and Gina has reason to suspect that he is now involved with Colette Tse. They are frequently seen together and the rumors are rampant that this is Nick's new lady. Colette herself has never shown herself to be shy of using any advantage in her quest for power in Nick's Luxembourg based empire, so Gina doesn't know what to think.
Especially when Gina pays for and arranges Hazel's very luxurious going away party and Hazel asks her to speak to Nick about forgiving Piet for quitting his job with Nick. Piet wants to leave his own architectural legacy for his children in Holland, and Nick is furious that he won't continue to slave away for him, no matter how much Nick pays. Gina does try to tell Nick that in his quest to rule everyone and everything, he is alienating his oldest friend. But in response to that suggestion, Nick brings Colette Tse to Hazel's going away party and deliberately seats her in Gina's assigned table spot.
As it was a formal place setup, this quite public and deliberate snub of Gina - in front of the entire Sentinel staff no less- serves to undermine her authority and humiliate her even more. Sir Dermot hears about the snub, indeed the whole world does via the gossip columns, and Dermot tells Gina he has a plan cooking to oust Nick from the Sentinel forever.
(In the last book, Dermot told Gina that she could run the Sentinel after they ousted Nick, something in Dermot's attitude now tells Gina that may no longer be the case. But Gina is Switzerland for the moment, so she is staying neutral and torn between hate and love for Nick.)
Then Tom Birny, our favorite Rugby playing crime reporter, is receiving death threats from the East End Crime families he is doing a series of stories on. Guy, the Sentinel lawyer and Sophie's future hubby, tells Nick and Gina that things are getting serious. The police claim to be looking into such large scale long time family crime empires, but who knows if they really are.
Because as Guy puts it, (and a BIG foreshadowing of later events,) the police may be more comfortable with the Devil They Know, as opposed to what or who might move in to take his place. In other words, the East End syndicates are solidly British criminals doing solidly British Criminal things, they are knowable and if they are gone, there is no telling who will set up shop in their wake or what kinda rules they play by. Guy also reveals that Nick is also receiving multiple death threats for pushing the series to be published.
There is another incident with the printers down in the basement, the entire system and back up system fails one night, so no Northern editions are sent out and Nick is bitterly angry and claiming that Gina and the printers set up some sort of sabotage.
Gina is horrified, she is sure the printer thing was some kind of system fault and she really doesn't like this death threat business that no one seems to be taking seriously, but she is soon distracted by the surprise arrival of Nick's mother and sister. As Nick is in Luxembourg with Colette, Gina has to go to the airport to collect them and let them rest at her penthouse. There is more than a little speculation that Colette and Nick have eloped. When Gina goes to get Nick's devious mother, the woman herself seems to think that Colette and Nick are pretty serious.
Of course Gina is in a frenzy of good old fashioned jealousy, but when Nick finally shows up to escort his mother next door to his penthouse, Colette is no where to be seen and Nick does rather belatedly and half heartedly apologize for his behavior at Hazel's goodbye party.
Then Nick gets shot. He and Gina were to attend the theater with his mother and sister, but as they were getting into the car, another car came by and there were bullets fired everywhere. Nick got hit in the head and Gina and one of the electricians and the chauffeur manage to get Nick to the hospital. Nick only got grazed and he hit his head on the way down, so he was unconscious for a while, but ultimately Nick will be fine.
However, it was a representative of the East End crime families who shot at them, so Nick wants everyone to leave town. Tom Birny is sent to Nick's Mediterranean holiday villa, Gina is sent with Nick's sister to Egypt and Nick is out and about in Europe until things settle down. The guy who shot Nick, crashed into a lamppost and was killed, so really it is just a matter of letting the dust settle.
We get some Egyptian travelogue, some patented CL psychoanalysis of Nick and his inner hidden insecurity regarding his mother being forced to give him up and Nick's feeling of abandonment and his uber-controlling father ignoring him except as a possession, which is how Nick treats people himself, along with all the usual CL food porn. Chicken dishes with egg yolks and cream feature heavily, as does Stilton, smoked salmon, melon balls and delicate consomme' paired with a lovely dry white wine.
Gina also finds out that Nick is still manipulating, his sister explains that Colette Tse is actually writing Nick's official biography and that they aren't dating. Nick wants to push Gina tho, so he let her believe otherwise. Gina is relieved and lets Nick fall on his face when he tries the jealously trick again as she calls him on his game, then Sir Dermot strikes.
Phillip Slade's American-Japanese fiancee's father, Mr. Tamaki, wants to buy Gina's shares of the Sentinel. With Phillip's shares and Gina's combined, they can force Nick out. Dermot tries to play on Gina's vow of vengeance and her guilt for the death of Sir George Tyrrell, but Gina goes back into Switzerland mode. She doesn't particularly like Suki Tamaki, she seems like a hard bitten but beautiful woman who is every inch the corporate raider that Nick Caspian also seems to be, but at least she knows Nick and he has some admirable traits - mixed in with others that Gina doesn't approve of.
Roz gives the opinion that Nick has done good things for the paper and for the English mindset, he has made them aware that they are part of Europe and that Europeans need to band together in mutual interest. Hazel, who has a lovely baby boy they call Nicky and we all go to Holland with travelogue to visit, thinks Gina should sell out to the Tamaki's and just focus on getting on with her life. That way at least Gina will be able to discern the extent of Nick's interest in her and plus, Gina will be wealthy enough that she can just do her own thing.
So ultimately the big showdown comes at the quarterly board meeting and everyone is aware that Gina is going to sell - but who is she going to sell to? That is the big question. Well as expected, Gina accepts Nick's offer to buy her shares right in the middle of the board meeting. Then she runs out of the office and eventually Nick chases after her.
He proposes straight away and Gina refuses, he claims to be crazy about her, but Gina can't see any reason for it and she tells him to go get on with things. Nick makes one last gamble and tells Gina he will give her back the Sentinel, completely and in her control. This convinces Gina that Nick really loves her and Nick is ecstatic, cause his ploy worked. They decide to marry and Gina will chair the Sentinel while Nick will continue to expand and unite his European media empire.
We get a final ensemble update of all the previous couple's at Nick and Gina's St. Margaret's wedding, (everybody is lurved up and happy and married and scattered all over the world,) and while Gina and Nick set out on their life's journey together, Gina offers a fervent prayer that this happiness will last.
This is not CL's best romance. But it is probably CL's most personalized piece of fiction and it is DEFINITELY the most culturally relevant to it's time piece of HPlandia ever written.
Because while HPlandia has it's own rules of physics and quantum mechanics, it does not come out of a vacuum. HPlandia takes it roots from real world issues and the events that spawned this series were world changing and TODAY, twenty five years after this series was published, we are seeing the real world flowering of the issues this book attempts to convey.
To understand this series, you need a short history lesson on what was happening in the world, especially in Great Britain in 1992. (This was published in the US in the final months of 1992 and the first three months of 1993, but CL wrote it in the last part of of 1992 in about two and half months or so.)
What happened was that GB had been a part of the European Union since 1973, but in an effort to strengthen the EU and promote inter-continental trading, GB decided to let the British pound join in the EU currency trading in what was the money fund predecessor to the adoption of the Euro. GB had been having internal economic problems for a few years by that time.
Their economy was stagnant, several mines had closed - which meant a huge loss of jobs- there were riots in many areas over the summer and what governments usually do is cut interest rates and make a lot of money available to borrow, in the hopes that a vibrant liberal monetary policy will encourage people to spend.
However, they decided to go into the EU monetary trading mechanism at the time and this caused a huge crisis known in GB as "Black Wednesday" - there is a lot of articles about it, but the simple explanation is that the monetary policy at the time allowed for currency traders to be able to short the British pound - in other words bet that it would fall below allowable limits to stay in the EU monetary fund- and make huge profits on the shorted money.
You do this by buying lots of pounds and then dumping them on the market, buy more at cheaper rates and then turn around and sell what you just bought over and over, at the end of the day, you have just made yourself a ton of money. (It is a bit more complicated, but this is the HP version of currency trading.)
The government at the time tried to defend the pound and maintain it above the limits that required the pound's withdrawal from the EU market and they failed, to the tune of several billion dollars worth of failure. This is referred to as the day they broke the Bank of England, and it was pretty shocking.
To combat the fall of the pound, the government began raising interest rates rapidly to promote others into buying of the pound and they were obligated by law to buy any unsold pounds offered on the market themselves. (Theoretically, they should have gone big on foreign currency, which was rising in value, to offset the loss from the mandatory pound buying and sold at a profit later. They didn't.)
This caused an economic implosion very similar to the housing bubble burst in the US in 2007-2009. People lost devalued homes they were upside down on, jobs were lost to the tune of 10% unemployment, middle class bankruptcy went viral and it paved the way for lots and lots of foreign takeovers of GB businesses. It is the reason why GB never adopted the Euro and that is the crisis and the background of this book.
When you see Nick and Gina, what you are seeing is a metaphor of the times - Nick is the EU foreign investor that many felt were reenacting William the Conqueror's invasion of 1066 and Gina is Great Britain, struggling to hold on to an unsustainable way of life.
The Tamaki's represent two other foreign interests that were not popular at the time - the Americans- as it had been an American Hedge fund who precipitated that monetary crisis and Japan- which even the US had been getting antsy about in internal investments within the US.
The times were certainly changing and Great Britain was realizing it could no longer be an island - the only choice was which way to go. CL brilliantly shows that as she plays out the romance between Gina and Nick.
But it is hard to let go of familiar institutions and rituals as life forces it's inevitable changes on you. I can still remember when I kept a pencil by my phone - not to write messages, but to dial a phone number on a rotary dial without breaking a nail,- now I have a smart phone and I don't which is more frustrating some days.
Change is very hard sometimes and learning new things can be very challenging. CL would only have seven years left after the US publication of this book, her life had changed enormously with the rise of technology and what seemed to be a new world order with old traditions and values just fading away.
Her writing in this series shows a struggle against change and great grief over the passing of old, familiar things, but in indubitably British Style, she stiffens her upper lip and gets on with getting on and in the end comes a graceful acceptance, with a sincere prayer that this really will mean a better way of life.
Gina's final prayer at the end is a surrender of sorts, but it is also a sincerely meant request for hope that change will be for the better. Perhaps reflecting CL's own wish for a better, united world for her compatriots and her readers where reaching across boundaries and mutual cooperation is commonplace.
That makes these books the most undisputedly British Series in a fictitious universe that was originally conceived in Great Britain and has brought many countries and peoples together-- all in celebration and sometimes in denunciation, but always with a sincere affection for our beloved HPlandia.
As always the players are pre-announced:
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK
NICK CASPIAN: International media tycoon. He is a ruthless and dangerous predator who set his eyes on owning the Sentinel and on destroying anyone who gets in his way.
GINA TYRRELL: The young widow of Sir George's beloved grandson, James and, following Sir George's death, the joint owner with Nick Caspian, of the Sentinel. She blames Nick for Sir George's death and vows to make him pay.
SIR DERMOT GASKELL: A senior Sentinel director who is determined to overthrow Nick Caspian. He has persuaded Gina Tyrrell to back him in a boardroom coup against Nick, and awaits the right opportunity.
COLETTE TSE: Ambitious and extremely attractive feature writer. She is determined to get to the top of her profession and will use any means at her disposal, including her dating of Nick Caspian, who seems particularly taken with her charms.
ALESSA CASPIAN: The independent and unconventional sister of Nick. She strikes up an immediate friendship with Gina Tyrrell and begins to confide in her all she knows about her irrepressible brother, much to Gina's curiosity and distress...
MR TAMAKI: One of Japan's, and indeed the world's, wealthiest tycoons. Adamant that his daughter Suki will realise her ambition to run a major newspaper, he has decided to take control of, if not buy the Sentinel for her. If that means the removal of Nick Caspian, then so be it!
This one starts with Hazel preparing to leave the Sentinel and start her new life with Piet in Holland, she is several months preggers at this point and Sophie, Nick's new secretary, is fully trained.
Gina is sad, mainly cause she wants children, more specifically she wants Nick's children, but that doesn't look very likely at this point. She and Nick are very estranged, he only shouts or glowers at her in the office and Gina has reason to suspect that he is now involved with Colette Tse. They are frequently seen together and the rumors are rampant that this is Nick's new lady. Colette herself has never shown herself to be shy of using any advantage in her quest for power in Nick's Luxembourg based empire, so Gina doesn't know what to think.
Especially when Gina pays for and arranges Hazel's very luxurious going away party and Hazel asks her to speak to Nick about forgiving Piet for quitting his job with Nick. Piet wants to leave his own architectural legacy for his children in Holland, and Nick is furious that he won't continue to slave away for him, no matter how much Nick pays. Gina does try to tell Nick that in his quest to rule everyone and everything, he is alienating his oldest friend. But in response to that suggestion, Nick brings Colette Tse to Hazel's going away party and deliberately seats her in Gina's assigned table spot.
As it was a formal place setup, this quite public and deliberate snub of Gina - in front of the entire Sentinel staff no less- serves to undermine her authority and humiliate her even more. Sir Dermot hears about the snub, indeed the whole world does via the gossip columns, and Dermot tells Gina he has a plan cooking to oust Nick from the Sentinel forever.
(In the last book, Dermot told Gina that she could run the Sentinel after they ousted Nick, something in Dermot's attitude now tells Gina that may no longer be the case. But Gina is Switzerland for the moment, so she is staying neutral and torn between hate and love for Nick.)
Then Tom Birny, our favorite Rugby playing crime reporter, is receiving death threats from the East End Crime families he is doing a series of stories on. Guy, the Sentinel lawyer and Sophie's future hubby, tells Nick and Gina that things are getting serious. The police claim to be looking into such large scale long time family crime empires, but who knows if they really are.
Because as Guy puts it, (and a BIG foreshadowing of later events,) the police may be more comfortable with the Devil They Know, as opposed to what or who might move in to take his place. In other words, the East End syndicates are solidly British criminals doing solidly British Criminal things, they are knowable and if they are gone, there is no telling who will set up shop in their wake or what kinda rules they play by. Guy also reveals that Nick is also receiving multiple death threats for pushing the series to be published.
There is another incident with the printers down in the basement, the entire system and back up system fails one night, so no Northern editions are sent out and Nick is bitterly angry and claiming that Gina and the printers set up some sort of sabotage.
Gina is horrified, she is sure the printer thing was some kind of system fault and she really doesn't like this death threat business that no one seems to be taking seriously, but she is soon distracted by the surprise arrival of Nick's mother and sister. As Nick is in Luxembourg with Colette, Gina has to go to the airport to collect them and let them rest at her penthouse. There is more than a little speculation that Colette and Nick have eloped. When Gina goes to get Nick's devious mother, the woman herself seems to think that Colette and Nick are pretty serious.
Of course Gina is in a frenzy of good old fashioned jealousy, but when Nick finally shows up to escort his mother next door to his penthouse, Colette is no where to be seen and Nick does rather belatedly and half heartedly apologize for his behavior at Hazel's goodbye party.
Then Nick gets shot. He and Gina were to attend the theater with his mother and sister, but as they were getting into the car, another car came by and there were bullets fired everywhere. Nick got hit in the head and Gina and one of the electricians and the chauffeur manage to get Nick to the hospital. Nick only got grazed and he hit his head on the way down, so he was unconscious for a while, but ultimately Nick will be fine.
However, it was a representative of the East End crime families who shot at them, so Nick wants everyone to leave town. Tom Birny is sent to Nick's Mediterranean holiday villa, Gina is sent with Nick's sister to Egypt and Nick is out and about in Europe until things settle down. The guy who shot Nick, crashed into a lamppost and was killed, so really it is just a matter of letting the dust settle.
We get some Egyptian travelogue, some patented CL psychoanalysis of Nick and his inner hidden insecurity regarding his mother being forced to give him up and Nick's feeling of abandonment and his uber-controlling father ignoring him except as a possession, which is how Nick treats people himself, along with all the usual CL food porn. Chicken dishes with egg yolks and cream feature heavily, as does Stilton, smoked salmon, melon balls and delicate consomme' paired with a lovely dry white wine.
Gina also finds out that Nick is still manipulating, his sister explains that Colette Tse is actually writing Nick's official biography and that they aren't dating. Nick wants to push Gina tho, so he let her believe otherwise. Gina is relieved and lets Nick fall on his face when he tries the jealously trick again as she calls him on his game, then Sir Dermot strikes.
Phillip Slade's American-Japanese fiancee's father, Mr. Tamaki, wants to buy Gina's shares of the Sentinel. With Phillip's shares and Gina's combined, they can force Nick out. Dermot tries to play on Gina's vow of vengeance and her guilt for the death of Sir George Tyrrell, but Gina goes back into Switzerland mode. She doesn't particularly like Suki Tamaki, she seems like a hard bitten but beautiful woman who is every inch the corporate raider that Nick Caspian also seems to be, but at least she knows Nick and he has some admirable traits - mixed in with others that Gina doesn't approve of.
Roz gives the opinion that Nick has done good things for the paper and for the English mindset, he has made them aware that they are part of Europe and that Europeans need to band together in mutual interest. Hazel, who has a lovely baby boy they call Nicky and we all go to Holland with travelogue to visit, thinks Gina should sell out to the Tamaki's and just focus on getting on with her life. That way at least Gina will be able to discern the extent of Nick's interest in her and plus, Gina will be wealthy enough that she can just do her own thing.
So ultimately the big showdown comes at the quarterly board meeting and everyone is aware that Gina is going to sell - but who is she going to sell to? That is the big question. Well as expected, Gina accepts Nick's offer to buy her shares right in the middle of the board meeting. Then she runs out of the office and eventually Nick chases after her.
He proposes straight away and Gina refuses, he claims to be crazy about her, but Gina can't see any reason for it and she tells him to go get on with things. Nick makes one last gamble and tells Gina he will give her back the Sentinel, completely and in her control. This convinces Gina that Nick really loves her and Nick is ecstatic, cause his ploy worked. They decide to marry and Gina will chair the Sentinel while Nick will continue to expand and unite his European media empire.
We get a final ensemble update of all the previous couple's at Nick and Gina's St. Margaret's wedding, (everybody is lurved up and happy and married and scattered all over the world,) and while Gina and Nick set out on their life's journey together, Gina offers a fervent prayer that this happiness will last.
This is not CL's best romance. But it is probably CL's most personalized piece of fiction and it is DEFINITELY the most culturally relevant to it's time piece of HPlandia ever written.
Because while HPlandia has it's own rules of physics and quantum mechanics, it does not come out of a vacuum. HPlandia takes it roots from real world issues and the events that spawned this series were world changing and TODAY, twenty five years after this series was published, we are seeing the real world flowering of the issues this book attempts to convey.
To understand this series, you need a short history lesson on what was happening in the world, especially in Great Britain in 1992. (This was published in the US in the final months of 1992 and the first three months of 1993, but CL wrote it in the last part of of 1992 in about two and half months or so.)
What happened was that GB had been a part of the European Union since 1973, but in an effort to strengthen the EU and promote inter-continental trading, GB decided to let the British pound join in the EU currency trading in what was the money fund predecessor to the adoption of the Euro. GB had been having internal economic problems for a few years by that time.
Their economy was stagnant, several mines had closed - which meant a huge loss of jobs- there were riots in many areas over the summer and what governments usually do is cut interest rates and make a lot of money available to borrow, in the hopes that a vibrant liberal monetary policy will encourage people to spend.
However, they decided to go into the EU monetary trading mechanism at the time and this caused a huge crisis known in GB as "Black Wednesday" - there is a lot of articles about it, but the simple explanation is that the monetary policy at the time allowed for currency traders to be able to short the British pound - in other words bet that it would fall below allowable limits to stay in the EU monetary fund- and make huge profits on the shorted money.
You do this by buying lots of pounds and then dumping them on the market, buy more at cheaper rates and then turn around and sell what you just bought over and over, at the end of the day, you have just made yourself a ton of money. (It is a bit more complicated, but this is the HP version of currency trading.)
The government at the time tried to defend the pound and maintain it above the limits that required the pound's withdrawal from the EU market and they failed, to the tune of several billion dollars worth of failure. This is referred to as the day they broke the Bank of England, and it was pretty shocking.
To combat the fall of the pound, the government began raising interest rates rapidly to promote others into buying of the pound and they were obligated by law to buy any unsold pounds offered on the market themselves. (Theoretically, they should have gone big on foreign currency, which was rising in value, to offset the loss from the mandatory pound buying and sold at a profit later. They didn't.)
This caused an economic implosion very similar to the housing bubble burst in the US in 2007-2009. People lost devalued homes they were upside down on, jobs were lost to the tune of 10% unemployment, middle class bankruptcy went viral and it paved the way for lots and lots of foreign takeovers of GB businesses. It is the reason why GB never adopted the Euro and that is the crisis and the background of this book.
When you see Nick and Gina, what you are seeing is a metaphor of the times - Nick is the EU foreign investor that many felt were reenacting William the Conqueror's invasion of 1066 and Gina is Great Britain, struggling to hold on to an unsustainable way of life.
The Tamaki's represent two other foreign interests that were not popular at the time - the Americans- as it had been an American Hedge fund who precipitated that monetary crisis and Japan- which even the US had been getting antsy about in internal investments within the US.
The times were certainly changing and Great Britain was realizing it could no longer be an island - the only choice was which way to go. CL brilliantly shows that as she plays out the romance between Gina and Nick.
But it is hard to let go of familiar institutions and rituals as life forces it's inevitable changes on you. I can still remember when I kept a pencil by my phone - not to write messages, but to dial a phone number on a rotary dial without breaking a nail,- now I have a smart phone and I don't which is more frustrating some days.
Change is very hard sometimes and learning new things can be very challenging. CL would only have seven years left after the US publication of this book, her life had changed enormously with the rise of technology and what seemed to be a new world order with old traditions and values just fading away.
Her writing in this series shows a struggle against change and great grief over the passing of old, familiar things, but in indubitably British Style, she stiffens her upper lip and gets on with getting on and in the end comes a graceful acceptance, with a sincere prayer that this really will mean a better way of life.
Gina's final prayer at the end is a surrender of sorts, but it is also a sincerely meant request for hope that change will be for the better. Perhaps reflecting CL's own wish for a better, united world for her compatriots and her readers where reaching across boundaries and mutual cooperation is commonplace.
That makes these books the most undisputedly British Series in a fictitious universe that was originally conceived in Great Britain and has brought many countries and peoples together-- all in celebration and sometimes in denunciation, but always with a sincere affection for our beloved HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2021
"Surrender" is the story of Gina and Nick.
Why Gina why? You know that man is crazy about you! Why spend the whole book thinking of betraying him when it is him you love? And why try to make her jealous Nick? Why can't these seemingly intelligent characters behave in a sensible manner! Don't they run a newspaper company? I thought journalists were supposed to be sharp!
SWE/Safe for me
2/5
Why Gina why? You know that man is crazy about you! Why spend the whole book thinking of betraying him when it is him you love? And why try to make her jealous Nick? Why can't these seemingly intelligent characters behave in a sensible manner! Don't they run a newspaper company? I thought journalists were supposed to be sharp!
SWE/Safe for me
2/5
July 28, 2022
Literally thunderstruck at the high stars for this. Love Charlotte Lamb, even her psycho ones have their own brilliance but this was SO dull. Way too heavy on office and business politics, entirely sketchy on romance. I skimmed to the end, hoping there'd be something there to satisfy but too many characters, too little loving.
February 16, 2024
Want to read the last book in the series.Have already gone through the previous ones and enjoyed them immensely .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2012
Pretty much the same kinda story It started brightly with anguish fire and all types of explosion but got very boring in the middle
The end was ok but I felt the story was a chewing gum for the 6th part
Read this only if u wanna finish the series otherwise this book is a gonner
The end was ok but I felt the story was a chewing gum for the 6th part
Read this only if u wanna finish the series otherwise this book is a gonner
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