The Girl with the Persian Shawl

by Elizabeth Mansfield

In Suffolk, every unmarried young lady knows that, if she ever wants to find a match, she must walk, speak, eat, even laugh properly. A young woman looking to marry is always sweet and demure, charming and gracious, and, of course, deferential. But not Kate Rendell. An anomaly, Kate could not care less what people think of her and her tendency to speak her mind. Her suitors have all taken a disliking to this quirk of hers--and taken flight. And Kate has not minded. That is, until one man walks into her life...

When Harry Gerard, Lord Ainsworth, calls upon Kate to view her family's much-admired painting of a girl with a Persian shawl, his hostess's rudeness takes him by surprise and he leaves confused. But for all the gall she displayed during his visit, Kate finds herself thinking about him more and more. And she would never let anything stand between herself and the object of her desire--even if the obstacle is her beloved cousin...

Genres: Romance, Regency, Historical, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 26, 2002

About the author

Elizabeth Mansfield is the author of numerous regency romances. She is an intelligent and thoughtful writer, a hidden gem whose novels deserve to be more widely read and enjoyed.

Elizabeth Mansfield is the pen name of the talented Paula Reibel Schwartz. Ms Schwartz also wrote different genres under the pen names Paula Reibel, Paula Reid, and Paula Jonas.

Reviews

[Megzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real regency themed novel, not a modern book with characters dressed up in regency clothing while talking and behaving like they had fire between their legs that needed to be put out! If you are looking for anything more than a close mouthed kiss, move on.

The best part about this book is the character developments, no one is perfect and everyone has their own particular flaws which makes them unique.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get through this one. It should be a nice fun romance, but I just got turned off by how rude the main character was. It seems like the author wanted to make her seem independent and modern, but she only seemed to pull off rude and annoying.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a Favorite

The heroine, Kate is opinionated, stubborn, makes up her mind without recourse to facts and is generally a annoyance. The story opens with her storming into her parlor to berate Lord Ainsworth over a painting that he has stopped by to see, The Girl with the Persian Shawl. She insults and accuses him of all kinds of unworthy actions while the people around her attempt futility to tell her why he's there. This is only the beginning of the things that this girl is indignant about. Constantly she goes off on a rage over something that hasn't happened, isn't true, or is totally made up by herself. Despite this, the hero is attracted to her.

Now strangely even though the heroine annoyed me to death, I found this to be one of my favorite Elizabeth Mansfield romances. I think I exceptionally enjoyed when her wrong thinking was exposed and punctured. The plot twists were also unexpected and different. All the characters were distinctive and eclectic. I highly recommend this sweet romance.

[ike pauh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The way the writer weaves her tale, it is very easy to get absorbed. Gosh I would I could wring Dierdre's neck, she is such a troublesome gal. The heroine's second guesses were totally understandable given the time period and the way society was. You'd go over all your interactions, view and review them and try to remain sane any way possible.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful

Another charming story of the obstacles of true love for the privileged. Harry, Benjy and Lady Ainsworth are the heroes of the tale along with the long suffering, and principled, Leonard.

[Miriamgreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

read and reread, insufferable heroine to the point of admiration

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it wasn't so bad that I stopped reading it but it wasn't great. I am glad its done and will be getting rid of it to make room for books I actually like.

[Lady Disdain · Rating 3 out of 5]

It skirted the edge of being too screwball comedy for me, but retained just enough common sense to make it charming in the end.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story kept my interest, but the heroine was too stubborn, opinionated, and very presumptuous! I don't think I will read it again in the future...once was enough.

[Nenya · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Not sure about the H's v-status, but he's not "in the petticoat line", he's not a rake, so it's quite possible/reasonable that his vcard is intact)

A rake is a licentious bounder who resorts to trickery and lies to get his way with women. Harry, on the other hand, is the most honest and honorable man I've ever known.
That's the H's grandmother, who though not impartial, is certainly a good judge.

There's a bit lot of misunderstanding (h think H is a rake), a silly cousin (who keeps falling in and out of love with a different guy; also the source of most of aforementioned misunderstandings), and a really great H! The h isn't bad either ;).

There is insta-love, but it's based on their verbal sparring, not just good looks, so I gave it a pass on that. It's a bit of a farce, with the author throwing Deidre (the cousin) under the bus (or carriage ;)) to provide most of it.

I'm rereading because this book made me a fan of Elizabeth Mansfield. Although I haven't read all of her works, I have not found any other of hers (so far) to match up to this one.

[Kathy * Bookworm Nation · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay for me, it didn’t blow me away, but it also didn’t bore me. It has some nice moments and I did like our leading man, Lord Ainsworth. At times I felt like it was kind of jumping perspectives a little too much, I usually only prefer two narrators at most. Our heroine Kate isn’t the most likable characters, she gets a little better as the book goes on, but I had a hard time liking her at the beginning. Overall, it kept me reading and I will probably check out other books by Mansfield.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little embarrassed because this is actually a romance, which I disdain unless there's a mystery or a lot of history involved, and because I actually enjoyed it. There is some history, but nothing special and perhaps not even accurate. The aspect that got three stars was that I kept imagining it as a play, a la 'The Importance of Being Ernest', full of twists and turns that could be comic with the right dialog and acting. In spite of being slight hokey, the plot was really quite good.

[Meredith Galman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had a surprisingly intriguing premise -- a sort of round-robin of romance -- but the execution was stale, flat, and conventional. The whole strong-minded-woman-learns-humility-and-finds-romance thing has been done so many times before, so much better; see The Clever Woman of the Family by Charlotte M. Yonge for a satisfying Victorian example.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book but did find the heroine unlikable for much of the book. It's not my favorite Mansfield book, but it was a quick read and I did chuckle at the humorous bits

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

The annoying flighty younger cousin made this book.