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A Portrait Of Love
A Historical Romance by one of the greatest romance writers of all time.
148 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1999
About the author
Barbara Cartland
1,049 books849 followersBorn in 1901, Barbara Cartland started her writing career in journalism and completed her first book, Jigsaw, when she was just 24. An immediate success, it was the start of her journey to becoming the world’s most famous and most read romantic novelist of all time. Inspiring a whole generation of readers around the globe with her exciting tales of adventure, love and intrigue, she became synonymous with the Romance genre. And she still is to this day, having written over 644 romantic fiction books.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2012
my friend just lend me this book, i'm really not a fan of short novels 'cause they frustrate me a lot, but after reading this i couldn't put it down unless i'm finish, i only read it in 6 straight hours..
April 21, 2023
Fedora’s father has a passion for art and has been restoring paintings for years without taking pay (his pride prevents him… but he also no longer has an income so his household is starving). Fedora can’t sell one of the paintings from their collection without her brother’s consent, but he’s overseas trying to make money. Luckily, a request from Earl Kimball arrives that will save the day: he wants his entire collection restored and will pay handsomely for it. Since her dad would never accept pay, Fedora omits a few facts about the job and convinces her father that he’s been invited to the Earl’s home as a guest, with the hopes he’ll agree to do the restoration. Her dad is in bad health thanks to malnutrition, but he agrees, and they arrive to meet Kimball who is actually a pretty nice Cartland hero. Only problem is that he made a really bad decision picking a mistress—her name is Lady Sheelah, and she spends his money like water and is viciously jealous of Fedora, who captures his attention right away. Kimball also suffers from the Jane Eyre affect, where he’s stuck with a mad wife, preventing him from acting on his love for Fedora. Poor guy.
I love that Fedora manages to handle this quite well. I think it helps that they have a strong connection to each other through a shared love of paintings that comes up multiple times early on in the book. There’s an actual build up of affection as they get to know each other, hurrah. I love that. I also loved the mystical touch here too: both Fedora and Kimball grew up admiring a Van Dyke painting of Madonna. Apparently Van Dyke painted doubles so they are both legit copies. But it’s always been her favorite painting in her family’s collection, hanging in her bedroom, and Kimball fell for Fedora immediately because Fedora resembles the Madonna in his same favorite painting.
The novel ends when Kimball’s wife is murdered—stabbed with a palette knife—and Sheelah tries to frame Fedora because of the murder weapon. But she fails because Fedora has witnesses in the maid and valet who talked to her when she ran Sheelah’s handkerchief retrieval task to prove she had a solid alibi. Lucky for Sheelah, one of Kimball’s friends takes Sheelah away to make a run for France to avoid arrest and hanging. And strangely enough, everyone’s happy she ends up not getting punished for it. Despite trying to get Fedora hung in her place. Okay. Huh. Anyway, after Kimball gets everything sorted out, he proposes to Fedora and she accepts. They’ll get married in secret to do it during his mourning period and her father will stay in the main house and restore the paintings wooooo.
I love that Fedora manages to handle this quite well. I think it helps that they have a strong connection to each other through a shared love of paintings that comes up multiple times early on in the book. There’s an actual build up of affection as they get to know each other, hurrah. I love that. I also loved the mystical touch here too: both Fedora and Kimball grew up admiring a Van Dyke painting of Madonna. Apparently Van Dyke painted doubles so they are both legit copies. But it’s always been her favorite painting in her family’s collection, hanging in her bedroom, and Kimball fell for Fedora immediately because Fedora resembles the Madonna in his same favorite painting.
The novel ends when Kimball’s wife is murdered—stabbed with a palette knife—and Sheelah tries to frame Fedora because of the murder weapon. But she fails because Fedora has witnesses in the maid and valet who talked to her when she ran Sheelah’s handkerchief retrieval task to prove she had a solid alibi. Lucky for Sheelah, one of Kimball’s friends takes Sheelah away to make a run for France to avoid arrest and hanging. And strangely enough, everyone’s happy she ends up not getting punished for it. Despite trying to get Fedora hung in her place. Okay. Huh. Anyway, after Kimball gets everything sorted out, he proposes to Fedora and she accepts. They’ll get married in secret to do it during his mourning period and her father will stay in the main house and restore the paintings wooooo.
May 4, 2023
He seemed to fill the whole room, the sky, and the world itself, and she knew as she saw his eyes that he looked younger and happier then and completely different from the man she had left behind. Neither of them could speak, they just stood looking at each other. Then the Earl opened his arms and with a little cry that seemed to echo round the room Fedora ran towards him. He held her close against him and she could feel his heart beating frantically against her breast. Then he turned her face up to his and down at her before his lips were on hers. He kissed her until the whole room swung round them, and they no longer had their feet on the ground but were flying towards the Heaven they had sought before and lost.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews