The Man from Nowhere

by Rebecca Stratton

He was a stranger, a man of mystery
Linsie bitterly resented Jean-Pierre Chardin, the disturbingly enigmatic Frenchman who had bought her grandfather's prosperous Loire vineyards.

"Why is it you have such passionate hatred for me?" he asked, bewildered and hurt.

And Linsie, engaged to quiet undemonstrative André, couldn't answer honestly. All she knew was that encounters with Jean-Pierre left her restless--and with the feeling that something very important was missing from her life.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

184 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1983

About the author

Rebecca Stratton wrote two books as a Harlequin Presents author. Writing for the Harlequin Romance imprint, she published 43 novels. She also wrote under the name Lucy Gillen. She passed away in 1982.



Biography from Harlequin Romance #2489 The Golden Spaniard

"When one happens to be an unmarried woman of forty-five and apparently fixed for the rest of her working life in a safe and settled job," Rebecca Stratton says of herself, "it is apt to be regarded as bordering on the insane to suddenly give it all up and become a full-time writer."

But that is precisely what British-born and -bred Rebecca did one August day in 1967. Writing had always been her ultimate aim, and she felt that if she didn't make the move right then and there she'd end her days as "one more elderly lady sighing for what might have been."

When Rebecca Stratton's first attempt at a romance novel was accepted, she didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. So she did both. Then she celebrated with friends and relatives. And then sat down to the job of writing more books - and reveled in it!

Reviews

[DamsonDreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Little bit uneven and odd with a soupcon of racism, or maybe more properly racism awareness. The h Linsie is English but part French and fluent speaker. Is nurse to her ailing French grandfather, owner of an estate much depleted and sold off. Weirdly, under no duress whatsoever, she goes along with being half hearted courted by and with a view to marrying, doltish, bourgeois neighbour Andre. Newish neighbour Jean-Pierre is our stallion riding alpha H and much is made of his dark, swarthy skin. It transpires he is French Moroccan, which doesn't really go down well in the environs (it's subtle ish but there). There is a nuts evil OW who feels like something of a bolt on and about whom the H seems pretty unimpressed. The h and H repeatedly kiss and I can't for the life of me fathom why they can't be together from the off. All a bit strange. I think I've read others by this writer in the dim and distant past but this was pretty slow and not one I'd revisit.

[RomLibrary]

He was a stranger, a man of mystery
Linsie bitterly resented Jean-Pierre Chardin, the disturbingly enigmatic Frenchman who had bought her grandfather's prosperous Loire vineyards.

"Why is it you have such passionate hatred for me?" he asked, bewildered and hurt.

And Linsie, engaged to quiet undemonstrative André, couldn't answer honestly. All she knew was that encounters with Jean-Pierre left her restless--and with the feeling that something very important was missing from her life.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story again similar to Lucy Gillen's Dangerous stranger. This was the last one published by her about a year after her death (1982) in 1983.