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Lady of Mallow
Hailed by the New York Times as a novel that “should easily satisfy the same readers who made a bestseller out of Victoria Holt’s Mistress of Mellyn,” Dorothy Eden’s masterwork of Gothic romance presents the story of a governess who falls dangerously in love with the mysterious heir to a manor houseIt’s a precarious charade with the highest stakes imaginable. Sarah Mildmay’s entire future rests on exposing the current lord of Mallow as the great pretender he is. Blane Mallow, presumed dead after years at sea, has suddenly returned to claim his title—and the magnificent English estate that rightfully belongs to Sarah’s fiancé, Blane’s cousin Ambrose.Determined to unmask the imposter, Sarah talks her way into a position as governess to Blane’s son, Titus. At Mallow Hall, she meets Blane’s suspicious wife, Amalie, and the formidable Lady Malvina. But the deception Sarah suspects reveals itself to be far more malevolent and far-reaching than she imagined. As she fights her growing attraction to Blane, the arrival of a stranger sets in motion a series of events that will have deadly consequences. Desperate to protect Titus, Sarah moves closer to a shattering The man she loves may be a cold-blooded murderer . . .
221 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1960
68 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Eden
95 books167 followersAka Mary Paradise.
Dorothy Eden was born in 1912 in New Zealand and died in 1982. She moved to England in 1954 after taking a trip around the world and falling in love with the country. She was best known for her many mystery and romance books as well as short stories that were published in periodicals. As a novelist, Dorothy Eden was renowned for her ability to create fear and suspense. This earned her many devoted readers throughout her lifetime.
Dorothy Eden was born in 1912 in New Zealand and died in 1982. She moved to England in 1954 after taking a trip around the world and falling in love with the country. She was best known for her many mystery and romance books as well as short stories that were published in periodicals. As a novelist, Dorothy Eden was renowned for her ability to create fear and suspense. This earned her many devoted readers throughout her lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 11, 2016
In my quest for books like Mary Stewart’s, I think I’ve found another winner. The tone is much the same, and the set-up: there’s inevitably a touch of Nine Coaches Waiting (for me) when the protagonist becomes a governness – but this time, she’s deliberately there as a spy and she has her own motivations. I actually really liked following the twists of this and trying to make my own judgements, and I like that the conclusion wasn’t simple, wasn’t black and white.
I don’t know what it is about this sort of book I find so comforting and satisfying: the smart, proactive heroine, sometimes in a time/situation where she’s meant to follow a particular role; the fact that a happy ever after is more or less assured; perhaps the safe unsafeness of the male characters who seem a little wild but are, in the end, justified and acting for the best? Regardless, I found Lady of Mallow a fun entry in the more-or-less cosy mystery genre, and I’ll look for other books by Dorothy Eden.
Originally posted here.
I don’t know what it is about this sort of book I find so comforting and satisfying: the smart, proactive heroine, sometimes in a time/situation where she’s meant to follow a particular role; the fact that a happy ever after is more or less assured; perhaps the safe unsafeness of the male characters who seem a little wild but are, in the end, justified and acting for the best? Regardless, I found Lady of Mallow a fun entry in the more-or-less cosy mystery genre, and I’ll look for other books by Dorothy Eden.
Originally posted here.
March 20, 2019
3.5 stars/C+
Read for the March 2019 TBR Challenge.
That synopsis is really misleading, IMO.
The theme for this month’s TBR Challenge is “favourite trope”, and I fancied a good, old-fashioned gothic with bit of a master/governess romance thrown in. I chose one I bought a while back by an author I haven’t read before, Lady of Mallow by Dorothy Eden; originally published in 1960, it’s recently been digitally reissued, as have several of the author’s other books.
London is abuzz with gossip about Lord Blane Mallow, who ran away from his Kentish home aged sixteen and hasn’t been seen or heard of in the twenty years since. Following the death of his father, newspaper articles and pamphlets have been circulated requesting information about the missing heir – and when none was forthcoming, steps were taken to start the process by which he could be declared legally dead and the inheritance – including Mallow Hall – pass to the next heir. But just when all hope of Blane being found had been given up, he arrived in England, accompanied by his wife and five-year-old son, Titus, and his court case to prove his identity has become something of a cause célèbre.
Among those closely following the court’s progress is Sarah Mildmay, a gently-born but impoverished young lady who has lived with her aunt since the death of her father, an inveterate gambler. She is secretly engaged to Ambrose, Blane’s cousin, who stands to inherit should the man be declared an imposter.
When the legalities are complete and the court is satisfied that Blane is who he says he is, it’s a huge blow to Sarah and Ambrose’s hopes, as without the Mallow inheritance, they cannot afford to marry. Sarah is furious but Ambrose refuses to give up, suggesting an audacious plan. The most recent newspaper article suggests that Blane’s son will need of a governess now the family is going to settle at Mallow Hall – and Ambrose suggests that Sarah should present herself as a potential candidate. That way, she will be able to snoop about and find the proof of the impostor’s guilt in order to overturn the court’s verdict.
Adventurous of spirit and all too aware of possessing the same liking for taking risks as her late father, Sarah agrees with alacrity and duly presents herself at the Mallows’ London residence. But she almost falls at the first hurdle when the sallow-faced, overdressed Lady Mallow, displeased with Sarah’s effrontery in just presenting herself without introduction, tells her to leave. Sarah is on her way out, when a distressed little boy – obviously Titus – literally throws himself at her, clings to her skirts and refuses to let got. She’s able to soothe the boy and calm him down – at which point the master of the house makes his appearance, and seeing Sarah’s effect on the boy, reverses his wife’s decision and offers her employment.
Blane is brooding, darkly handsome and enigmatic (of course!), his pronouncements are frequently dry and sarcastic, and it quickly becomes clear to Sarah that the Mallow’s marriage is not as it should be. She discovers that the connecting door between the master’s and mistress’ rooms is locked – from his side – and not only that, Lady Mallow’s desperation to gain her husband’s attention (and her temper when she doesn’t get it) are painfully obvious. Titus is a nervous little boy who is the apple of his grandmother’s eye – and the spitting image of his father at the same age, as proven by one of the family portraits – Lady Malvina (Blane’s mother) is well-meaning, but indiscreet and appears to care more about the fact that having her son home means she is able to get back some of the jewellery that had to be sold and is able to accumulate more; as the story progresses, we begin to see that she has her doubts as to the truth of Blane’s identity, but that her focus was on securing her own position and in gaining access to her grandson.
The story follows a fairly predictable pattern. There’s an unstable, jealous wife, a mysterious arrival who isn’t what they seem, a dead body in the lake, blackmail, kidnapping - and through it all a heroine whose adventurous spirit, sharp mind and wit is reluctantly drawn to similar qualities in the darkly sardonic hero. Like most of these older gothic romances, he’s pretty much a secondary figure in the story, and he doesn’t share all that many scenes with Sarah until near the end, so readers are given very little to go on as regards the evolution of his feelings for Sarah. The signs are there, but they’re few and far between, so the end-of-book declaration comes very much out of the blue. It’s true that he does have to be somewhat removed to keep Sarah – and the reader – guessing as to whether he really is or isn’t Blane Mallow, but still, it makes for an unsatisfying romance. As we’re in Sarah’s head for most of the book, her feelings are easier to read, although most of the time, she appears to be angry at Blane’s blatant imposition and lies rather than attracted to him. There are hints of her discomfort around him, but otherwise there’s little to go on.
Lady of Mallow held my attention for the time it took me to read it, mostly because I wanted to find out the truth about Blane and I did enjoy the cat-and-mouse game he and Sarah were engaged in; it was obvious he was on to her from the beginning and she knew he was trying to trip her up. The reveal was rather anticlimactic though, involving one character reciting the events to another and being overheard by Blane and Sarah, and the ending is really abrupt.
The blurb describes Lady of Mallow as a “classic of the genre”, but I’m inclined to disagree. For a real classic gothic, you can’t beat Daphne du Maurier or Victoria Holt.
Read for the March 2019 TBR Challenge.
That synopsis is really misleading, IMO.
The theme for this month’s TBR Challenge is “favourite trope”, and I fancied a good, old-fashioned gothic with bit of a master/governess romance thrown in. I chose one I bought a while back by an author I haven’t read before, Lady of Mallow by Dorothy Eden; originally published in 1960, it’s recently been digitally reissued, as have several of the author’s other books.
London is abuzz with gossip about Lord Blane Mallow, who ran away from his Kentish home aged sixteen and hasn’t been seen or heard of in the twenty years since. Following the death of his father, newspaper articles and pamphlets have been circulated requesting information about the missing heir – and when none was forthcoming, steps were taken to start the process by which he could be declared legally dead and the inheritance – including Mallow Hall – pass to the next heir. But just when all hope of Blane being found had been given up, he arrived in England, accompanied by his wife and five-year-old son, Titus, and his court case to prove his identity has become something of a cause célèbre.
Among those closely following the court’s progress is Sarah Mildmay, a gently-born but impoverished young lady who has lived with her aunt since the death of her father, an inveterate gambler. She is secretly engaged to Ambrose, Blane’s cousin, who stands to inherit should the man be declared an imposter.
When the legalities are complete and the court is satisfied that Blane is who he says he is, it’s a huge blow to Sarah and Ambrose’s hopes, as without the Mallow inheritance, they cannot afford to marry. Sarah is furious but Ambrose refuses to give up, suggesting an audacious plan. The most recent newspaper article suggests that Blane’s son will need of a governess now the family is going to settle at Mallow Hall – and Ambrose suggests that Sarah should present herself as a potential candidate. That way, she will be able to snoop about and find the proof of the impostor’s guilt in order to overturn the court’s verdict.
Adventurous of spirit and all too aware of possessing the same liking for taking risks as her late father, Sarah agrees with alacrity and duly presents herself at the Mallows’ London residence. But she almost falls at the first hurdle when the sallow-faced, overdressed Lady Mallow, displeased with Sarah’s effrontery in just presenting herself without introduction, tells her to leave. Sarah is on her way out, when a distressed little boy – obviously Titus – literally throws himself at her, clings to her skirts and refuses to let got. She’s able to soothe the boy and calm him down – at which point the master of the house makes his appearance, and seeing Sarah’s effect on the boy, reverses his wife’s decision and offers her employment.
Blane is brooding, darkly handsome and enigmatic (of course!), his pronouncements are frequently dry and sarcastic, and it quickly becomes clear to Sarah that the Mallow’s marriage is not as it should be. She discovers that the connecting door between the master’s and mistress’ rooms is locked – from his side – and not only that, Lady Mallow’s desperation to gain her husband’s attention (and her temper when she doesn’t get it) are painfully obvious. Titus is a nervous little boy who is the apple of his grandmother’s eye – and the spitting image of his father at the same age, as proven by one of the family portraits – Lady Malvina (Blane’s mother) is well-meaning, but indiscreet and appears to care more about the fact that having her son home means she is able to get back some of the jewellery that had to be sold and is able to accumulate more; as the story progresses, we begin to see that she has her doubts as to the truth of Blane’s identity, but that her focus was on securing her own position and in gaining access to her grandson.
The story follows a fairly predictable pattern. There’s an unstable, jealous wife, a mysterious arrival who isn’t what they seem, a dead body in the lake, blackmail, kidnapping - and through it all a heroine whose adventurous spirit, sharp mind and wit is reluctantly drawn to similar qualities in the darkly sardonic hero. Like most of these older gothic romances, he’s pretty much a secondary figure in the story, and he doesn’t share all that many scenes with Sarah until near the end, so readers are given very little to go on as regards the evolution of his feelings for Sarah. The signs are there, but they’re few and far between, so the end-of-book declaration comes very much out of the blue. It’s true that he does have to be somewhat removed to keep Sarah – and the reader – guessing as to whether he really is or isn’t Blane Mallow, but still, it makes for an unsatisfying romance. As we’re in Sarah’s head for most of the book, her feelings are easier to read, although most of the time, she appears to be angry at Blane’s blatant imposition and lies rather than attracted to him. There are hints of her discomfort around him, but otherwise there’s little to go on.
Lady of Mallow held my attention for the time it took me to read it, mostly because I wanted to find out the truth about Blane and I did enjoy the cat-and-mouse game he and Sarah were engaged in; it was obvious he was on to her from the beginning and she knew he was trying to trip her up. The reveal was rather anticlimactic though, involving one character reciting the events to another and being overheard by Blane and Sarah, and the ending is really abrupt.
The blurb describes Lady of Mallow as a “classic of the genre”, but I’m inclined to disagree. For a real classic gothic, you can’t beat Daphne du Maurier or Victoria Holt.
June 27, 2023
3.5
Eden really enjoyed giving us extremely unlikeable heroines.
Eden really enjoyed giving us extremely unlikeable heroines.
August 18, 2025
Meh. I thought this one would be fun because the leads are adversaries who take turns being cat and mouse, but it doesn't compensate for the fact that the heroine is quite hard to like, and her devious behavior never feels all that justified in light of the end goal.
Which is, of course, money and a title. Sarah Mildmay might be more ambitious and resourceful than your average fortune hunter, but she does bear some resemblance to one. Her secret fiance Ambrose was set to inherit the title and property due the Lord of Mallow, but a man claiming to be the long lost heir just won the court case that confirmed him to be Blaine Mallow. Sarah's plans to marry Ambrose, who must either marry or inherit wealth, are suddenly in jeopardy. Together they hatch a plan that he will go off to investigate his supposed cousin's mysterious background and Sarah will seek work as Blaine's son's governess while doing a little snooping of her own, both with the intent of exposing the fraudster.
The ancestral estate that Sarah ends up in is suitably Gothic, with a sinister lake and a haunted servant's room. Blaine's foreign wife (unstable, foreign, and jealous as excess Dorothy Eden wives tend to be) takes an instant dislike to Sarah, but what Blaine thinks of her is much less clear. Unexpectedly, Sarah takes a liking to their cowed young son, but with the secrets she's busily digging up, no one in or around this family is safe.
Three books into Dorothy Eden's canon, I'm starting to pick up on some common themes and characters that have shown up in more than one. The jealous and inconvenient wife? Check. The whiff (or more) of xenophobia? Check. Brooding hero who is not what he seems? Check. I'm inadvertently going back in time through Eden's works, which makes Lady of Mallow the earliest book of hers I've read, and noticeably the roughest. It's readable, yes, but the characters are hard to like and the romance is impossible to root for. Too bad; it could have been fun.
2 stars, and that ends my very brief Dorothy Eden binge. I may be up for some more in another 20 years.
Which is, of course, money and a title. Sarah Mildmay might be more ambitious and resourceful than your average fortune hunter, but she does bear some resemblance to one. Her secret fiance Ambrose was set to inherit the title and property due the Lord of Mallow, but a man claiming to be the long lost heir just won the court case that confirmed him to be Blaine Mallow. Sarah's plans to marry Ambrose, who must either marry or inherit wealth, are suddenly in jeopardy. Together they hatch a plan that he will go off to investigate his supposed cousin's mysterious background and Sarah will seek work as Blaine's son's governess while doing a little snooping of her own, both with the intent of exposing the fraudster.
The ancestral estate that Sarah ends up in is suitably Gothic, with a sinister lake and a haunted servant's room. Blaine's foreign wife (unstable, foreign, and jealous as excess Dorothy Eden wives tend to be) takes an instant dislike to Sarah, but what Blaine thinks of her is much less clear. Unexpectedly, Sarah takes a liking to their cowed young son, but with the secrets she's busily digging up, no one in or around this family is safe.
Three books into Dorothy Eden's canon, I'm starting to pick up on some common themes and characters that have shown up in more than one. The jealous and inconvenient wife? Check. The whiff (or more) of xenophobia? Check. Brooding hero who is not what he seems? Check. I'm inadvertently going back in time through Eden's works, which makes Lady of Mallow the earliest book of hers I've read, and noticeably the roughest. It's readable, yes, but the characters are hard to like and the romance is impossible to root for. Too bad; it could have been fun.
2 stars, and that ends my very brief Dorothy Eden binge. I may be up for some more in another 20 years.
July 12, 2021
This novel was written in 1960. I'm not positive what year it is set in, but passenger trains are mentioned as being a new way of traveling, and Queen Victoria is the queen, so it's probably set in the late 1830s or early 1840s. There is a secluded family mansion, and a young spirited governess, and the enigmatic Lord who is her employer. They carry on a battle of the wits throughout the novel. There are also secrets and mystery! This mystery really is baffling, and at the end, all the pieces add up to a satisfying conclusion. This is a fast-moving story that really pulls you along. The main character is Sarah. She is engaged to a man named Ambrose, who is all set to become the Lord Of Mallow, now that his uncle has died. His uncle did have a son named Blane, Ambrose's cousin, but Blane has been missing for 20 years, every since he left home at the age of 16. Sarah is looking forward to being the Lady Of Mallow. But then, Blane returns from overseas to claim his inheritance. Which means that Ambrose won't be the heir of Mallow after all, but a barrister for the rest of his life. Ambrose and Sarah consider the man claiming to be Blane as an imposter. He has a very spotty memory, which he claims is the result of falling off a horse. The main thing he has in his favor is his young son, who looks exactly like Blane Mallow did at the same age, based on a portrait that was painted of him then. But the man claiming to be Blane has changed so much in appearance that people who knew him when he was younger can't say he's the same person. There is a trial, and the man is legally found to be the real Blane Mallow. Sarah goes undercover as a governess in the house to try to prove that the man claiming he is Blane is an imposter, to get Ambrose's inheritance back for him, and also for herself when she marries him. Something unexpected happens---she becomes emotionally involved with the family. She truly cares for the little boy, and she also begins to feel affectionate toward Blane's mother, the little boy's grandmother. There are times when Sarah starts to waver in her conviction that the man is an imposter. Nothing is rushed in the novel, but it moves along at steady pace. There are no loose ends to frustrate the reader.
August 3, 2016
Lady of Mallow brings my Dorothy Eden reading spree to an end ... I've enjoyed them all, although I think Ravenscroft was my favorite. Unfortunately, Winterwood and Lady of Mallow, which I read back to back, had kind of similar plots and I didn't think Blane Mallow was fleshed out enough.
April 16, 2015
A dramatic, mysterious story similar to Georgette Heyer, without the humor.
January 11, 2014
Great Gothic Mystery/romance
if you are a fan of this genre you will certainly enjoy this novel. a great relaxing evening read.
I believe Dorothy Eden to be one of the most brilliant authors of this genre. Her books are meticulously researched and offer a deeper and more realistic background.
if you are a fan of this genre you will certainly enjoy this novel. a great relaxing evening read.
I believe Dorothy Eden to be one of the most brilliant authors of this genre. Her books are meticulously researched and offer a deeper and more realistic background.
March 28, 2016
Sarah Mildmay is living with her Aunty, she is engaged to a man who is suppose to be the next Lord of Mallow, however an imposter has come to claim the title. Her engagement must be kept a secret while her love travels overseas to find out the truth. Sarah signs on as a Governess to the Pretenders child. However, Sarah finds much amiss, and the Pretend Lady Mallow does not wish the child to have Sarah for the Governess. There is murder and Sarah is in danger. Sarah finds out her fiance may not be all she wishes in a future husband, and the child, is really the Lord of Mallow, and her fiance will never be the new Lord. Sarah finds her heart has found a new love, although there are many twists and turns along the way, before she finds the truth.
Want to read
June 18, 2010We own this as part of an anthology, Gothic Treasure Trove:
December 20, 2013
Good Gothic romance with mystery. A woman is asked to pretend to be a governess to a young boy while her fiancé, who feels he should have inherited the Mallow estate goes to expose Blaine Mallow. Both seem to know the other is an imposter, but there are good twists to the story and it is not easy to figure out the villain until the end.
August 31, 2010
Gothic.
December 20, 2013
Good read with a dark castle in Ireland with two handsome men, assorted strange people and a skeleton in the closet all lorded over by an eccentric woman.
May 18, 2014
Fluffy, fairly predictable, but fun if you like Gothic romances.
June 29, 2015
It was okay.
September 14, 2016
Good read........
I read this book many years ago. Always loved gothic romances. You won't be able to put it down....... I really enjoyed reading again.
I read this book many years ago. Always loved gothic romances. You won't be able to put it down....... I really enjoyed reading again.
February 18, 2009
(1960)
July 22, 2018
20 chapters
386 pages
My Review—In America, it was published under this title "Lady of Mallow," but in England it was published under another one, "Samantha." Either way, it’s a very good novel—lots of drama and suspense and intrigue.
Summary—The heroine, Sarah Mildmay, goes undercover as a governess into the Mallow household in order to help her fiancé, Ambrose Mallow, prove that the long-lost heir to the Mallow fortune, one Blane Mallow, who just showed up after a 20-year absence with a wife and son, is, in fact, an impostor.
(Why Sarah thinks she’s in love with the guy is beyond me; he seems such a prig and a bore, and, in fact, she, herself, describes him as “slight,” “elegant,” and, as Lady Mallow calls him, “a dandy”), and, as governess, Sarah quickly finds she’s in over her head (though she loves the challenge). She grows fond of her charge, Titus “call me Georgie” Mallow, a shy and sickly little boy who doesn’t seem to like his mother. And that brings us to his mother, Amalie Mallow, Blane’s wife: excessively jealous of her husband’s growing preference for Sarah and highly excitable and a little unstable. Sarah quickly learns their marriage isn’t what it seems because Blane sleeps in an adjoining room—with a locked door!
So what’s the mystery there? Is he Blane Mallow, or isn’t he? If not, who is he? If so, why can’t he seem to remember much of his life before he ran away from home to undertake a seafaring life (does his convenient excuse of amnesia from having been thrown from a horse explain the memory loss?)? And if not, then how come his son, Titus, is the spitting image of Blane at that age? And why in the world does Titus asked to be called Georgie and dream of a strange woman coming into his room to snuff out his nightlight?
The answers to these questions and more unfurl themselves within a great story of Sarah and Blane’s cat-and-mouse game of “who are you?”—each trying to uncover the other’s identity before the other. And then a body mysteriously appears in Mallow Lake—suicide? accident? murder? The drama comes full circle and explodes into a horse chase amid mysteriously chiming church bells (are they warning of death?) and culminating in Ambrose’s return from his fact-finding mission (did he learn the truth of Blane Mallow?) and in yet another death.
Very good ride. The only problem I could claim having with the story is the ending. It does end well, but, for my taste, too abruptly. Romantic that I am, I would’ve liked to have had more of a mushy finale. Still, it ends well, and the right man gets the girl in the end—and that’s the best way for any romance to conclude.
Grade: A
386 pages
My Review—In America, it was published under this title "Lady of Mallow," but in England it was published under another one, "Samantha." Either way, it’s a very good novel—lots of drama and suspense and intrigue.
Summary—The heroine, Sarah Mildmay, goes undercover as a governess into the Mallow household in order to help her fiancé, Ambrose Mallow, prove that the long-lost heir to the Mallow fortune, one Blane Mallow, who just showed up after a 20-year absence with a wife and son, is, in fact, an impostor.
(Why Sarah thinks she’s in love with the guy is beyond me; he seems such a prig and a bore, and, in fact, she, herself, describes him as “slight,” “elegant,” and, as Lady Mallow calls him, “a dandy”), and, as governess, Sarah quickly finds she’s in over her head (though she loves the challenge). She grows fond of her charge, Titus “call me Georgie” Mallow, a shy and sickly little boy who doesn’t seem to like his mother. And that brings us to his mother, Amalie Mallow, Blane’s wife: excessively jealous of her husband’s growing preference for Sarah and highly excitable and a little unstable. Sarah quickly learns their marriage isn’t what it seems because Blane sleeps in an adjoining room—with a locked door!
So what’s the mystery there? Is he Blane Mallow, or isn’t he? If not, who is he? If so, why can’t he seem to remember much of his life before he ran away from home to undertake a seafaring life (does his convenient excuse of amnesia from having been thrown from a horse explain the memory loss?)? And if not, then how come his son, Titus, is the spitting image of Blane at that age? And why in the world does Titus asked to be called Georgie and dream of a strange woman coming into his room to snuff out his nightlight?
The answers to these questions and more unfurl themselves within a great story of Sarah and Blane’s cat-and-mouse game of “who are you?”—each trying to uncover the other’s identity before the other. And then a body mysteriously appears in Mallow Lake—suicide? accident? murder? The drama comes full circle and explodes into a horse chase amid mysteriously chiming church bells (are they warning of death?) and culminating in Ambrose’s return from his fact-finding mission (did he learn the truth of Blane Mallow?) and in yet another death.
Very good ride. The only problem I could claim having with the story is the ending. It does end well, but, for my taste, too abruptly. Romantic that I am, I would’ve liked to have had more of a mushy finale. Still, it ends well, and the right man gets the girl in the end—and that’s the best way for any romance to conclude.
Grade: A
August 17, 2021
This was hard to rate - taking into account when it was written, it's a three star; otherwise, it suffers badly from some racism/classism/foreigners vs good Englishmen problems. Most difficult for me was that it came thiiiiis close to being really, really good and jumping the rails of the genre. A few little changes could've given us a story where people's assumptions and society's narrow-mindness were the villains, and that would've been awesome.
What could've been...
What could've been...
January 26, 2018
This is just okay. Maybe slightly better than Ravenscroft. I devoured this and books like it as a teenager; as an - ahem - "mature" adult, they are awfully thin. And of course, once you've read half a dozen in this genre, there are no surprises. At least this book has the plotline of a claimant who may or may not be an imposter. That's usually an interesting device.
Of the two main characters, one was irritating and the other was underdeveloped. Some of the secondary characters were better done. I would like to have given two and a half stars. It's not that the writing is bad, it's just too formulaic and the background just sketched in lightly.
Of the two main characters, one was irritating and the other was underdeveloped. Some of the secondary characters were better done. I would like to have given two and a half stars. It's not that the writing is bad, it's just too formulaic and the background just sketched in lightly.
December 8, 2017
My copy of the book turned out to be missing the last 30 pages, but that was fine by me because I didn't have to bother with reading them. Lady of Mallow was okay, but that's about it.
I was only mildly able to tolerate Sarah. All she did was whine about how Mallow Hall should be hers and how she should be the one the servants bobbed their heads to. I swear that was all she cared about.
I was only mildly able to tolerate Sarah. All she did was whine about how Mallow Hall should be hers and how she should be the one the servants bobbed their heads to. I swear that was all she cared about.
August 26, 2025
A good read...
My first read of Ms. Eden's book, and I'm in frantic search of the next one. This has the mystery, suspense, edge of the seats moments, and more personal and romantic notions towards the end.
My first read of Ms. Eden's book, and I'm in frantic search of the next one. This has the mystery, suspense, edge of the seats moments, and more personal and romantic notions towards the end.
June 23, 2017
From 1965 diary entry: not very good. Little romantic interest
July 28, 2019
This was a fun read though Sarah was infuriatingly snobby at times. Nice and suspenseful.
July 24, 2021
Lady of Mallow
I enjoyed the story and didn't guess the ending. The pace was good. Unfortunately their were quite a lot of spelling mistakes.
I enjoyed the story and didn't guess the ending. The pace was good. Unfortunately their were quite a lot of spelling mistakes.
October 29, 2021
Fun, entertaining, quality read. Eden never disappoints.
July 18, 2022
Classic. Thoroughly enjoyed
January 9, 2022
I adored gothic novels as a young woman, and this was one of my favorites. Part of it was the large manor in its atmospheric setting by the always-misty lake. Part of it was the tension and suspense...was Blane really Blane, or was he an imposter? What is the deal with this Amalie person? And isn't Ambrose kind of a pill to be engaged to the warm-hearted, loyal and feisty Sarah Mildmay? Miss Mildmay is snoopy and resourceful, like all the best gothic heroines. Blane is dark, sarcastic and cynical, like a good gothic hero. What's not to like.
November 18, 2016
This is the first book I have read by this author but I liked it. Another Gothic romance, it was clean but I read the Reader's Digest version.
November 20, 2020
Dorothy Eden has always been one of my favorite authors, she was a master of the gothic genre.
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