Love in Amber

by Netta Muskett

She thought she could control both other people, and her own emotions.

Meriel Gray wants to get away for a while. Away from her parents and fiancée. Spoiled, and single minded, she had it all organised. Whatever her parents said, whatever Hugh Barlow, her fiance said, she was going to go off on holiday in Germany - alone. Hugh; she thought of him with a certain light-hearted contempt. He'd make a good husband: rich, very rich, and quite infatuated with her. She'd do what she wanted. He'd give in finally. He'd have to because she certainly wasn't going to. Nobody told Meriel what to do. She was free, of age, had a little money to spend, knew she was attractive. It is inevitable she will get what she wants.

In choosing Germany as her destination, however, she lands in some considerable difficulty as Europe goes to war. Had anybody told her that one day she would find herself helplessly, and that the only person to whom she can turn for help is a man she loathes and wholeheartedly despises. But when she finds herself stranded in war torn, she hopelessly in love; in love with the despised man, that she would hate herself for giving in to him, yet always would five in to him; if anyone had told her that, she would have laughed the idea to scorn.

A traitor to his country? Would he betray their love?

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Netta Rachel Hill was born on 1887 in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, UK. She was educated at Kent College, Folkstone, before became teacher of Mathematics. During the World War I, she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and drove an ambulance in France. In 1916, her brother, member of the Imperial Camel Corp, was killed in Egypt. After war, she worked as secretary by Lord George Riddell, 1st Baron Riddell, owerd and Managing Director of the News of the World. In 1925, she married the widower Henry Wallace Muskett (1886-1953), who has three children for his firt marriage, and they had a son, Peter Muskett, who married Judith, and had two children: Sarah-Jane and Jamie. During the World War II, she again served with the V.A.D where she taught handicrafts in British and American hospitals.

She started publishing on 1927, and she continued writing until the day of her death, and her last novel, Cloudbreak, was published posthumously on 1964. Her novels are translated to several languages, including: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish and Danish. Netta Muskett was vice-president of the Romantic Novelists' Association's, that created in her honour the Netta Muskett Award for new writers. She died on 29 May 1963 in Putney. In 2013, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her death, her family started to published her novels as ebook through Amazon Kindle.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two Brits fall in hate/lust with each other and unwisely enter a hasty marriage during WW2. Wife soon suspects husband of being a secret Nazi operative. She is horrified but her traitorous body won’t let her quit him. So she bangs him at night and spews the most creative insults she can think of during the day. The idjeet wife unfortunately can’t read between the lines and comprehend that her husband is actually a British agent trying to infiltrate Nazi ranks and he cannot explain it to her in words of one syllable because he is bound to secrecy. All he can do is give her cryptic answers hoping she will get the hint, but lol she doesn’t. Finally fed up with her not trusting him despite his lukewarm protests, he gets a bit of revenge back by boinking some crass farm girl he met randomly, which was actually the (unintentionally?) funniest episode of the book as he gets so disgusted with himself that he cannot complete the deed and the girl is all scornful and disappointed. The husband then spends the rest of the time trying to redeem himself and the HEA arrives when the wife gets invited to a ceremony at Buckingham Palace where the King and Queen themselves bestow an award to the husband and congratulate the wife on being married to a British hero who helped England defeat the Nazis. LoL I don’t blame the husband for springing this surprise on her as nothing short of royalty and a thousand witnesses would be enough to convince his wife he is innocent of her double agent accusations! This actually wasn’t bad at all compared to the other books I read from this author as she tends to write awful characters with no redeeming qualities. Despite the fact he cheated on her, I actually believed in their romance and lasting HEA because he was truly remorseful and for the only time ever in fiction, I actually thought the wife drove him to it! I felt sorry for him which never happens. The author actually succeeded in writing interesting though flawed individuals with both positive and negative qualities, and without making them detestable, so overall I enjoyed the story.

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

My father gave me this book when I was 10 years old purely because it had my name in it. Now that I have read it I can say that it is definitely not a childrens book! I tried reading it when I was younger but failed to understand it so I ended up using it as a TV stand.
The story line is pretty heavy. The main character marries a man she thought she loved just to escape the horrors of war but when she gets home she is shocked and appalled to discover that he is a Nazi spy working against her country. The story follows the inner struggles with herself when her husband returns to England and tries to win her love once more.
Frustrating at times when you just want to bang their heads together and tell them to grow up but all in all a pleasant read.

[Judy Mavor]

I read this book many years ago - delighted to see it on kindle - a good story one that I had remembered - not sure when it was first published!