The Masquer

by Denice Greenlea

Her real name was Christabel Devlin but she called herself Miss Stone. Because behind the glasses, and the plain dowdy figure an incredible beauty lay hidden.It was this loveliness that had caused her many problems with the titled gentlemen for whom she had previously worked as governess. They could not keep their hands off her.Now, disguised as plain Miss Stone, she hoped she would be left in peace--until she came to Lord Worthing's estate to care for his nephew. She found herself falling in love with him, but she tried to ignore it. To him she would always be "Stone."Young Lord Worthing found Christabel a gem. She was bright, efficient and most clever. What he did not know was that he would soon find her a priceless jewel....

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 12, 1980

Reviews

[Claire S]

Christabel's father was involved with the theater and married beneath him, so his family stopped all contact with him. After his death, Christabel contacts her uncle, a Duke, for assistance but he ignores her. She is having trouble keeping her positions as governess because she is so beautiful that she's accosted by men in every household. She asks her stepmother, an actress, to go on stage, but they promised her dad on his deathbed that she wouldn't do that (since it was a disreputable profession in Regency England). Christabel's solution is to disguise herself as an ugly governess for her next position. She powders her hair to make it look dull, uses yellow paint for her skin, pads herself to look more plump and wears thick glasses (this last one is necessary for her to see). She joins the household of Mr. Worthing (not Lord) to take care of his 10-year old nephew, who is Lord Worthing (father is dead). She's very successful and, through circumstances, eventually becomes Worthing's secretary. He works for the War Office, and there's a bit of a mystery related to it.

I'd probably say the book is more a 3 and 1/2 stars but rounding up to 4 seems fair. I enjoyed the book overall, but I have to say Mr. Worthing is what made it interesting. He's a nice man but gets upset easily, especially when someone disrupts his routine or work. Then he becomes super crabby and a bunch of curses fly out of his mouth, but I found it completely funny and endearing. Luckily, he's able to laugh about it as well, especially with Christabel. I also love that he's not titled. We don't see enough heroes like that. I liked Christabel as well but, ironically, I preferred her under her ugly disguise. Of course she's the same person but, whenever she would talk to her stepmom about her plight of being too beautiful and no man loving her for who she is, it became pretty annoying. I understand her beauty putting her in difficult positions, but no one wants to hear a person complaining about how beautiful they are and wishing to be ugly. When she's dressed as Miss Stone, it's all about being efficient and I loved that.

The secondary characters are okay. The young Lord is a darling, his mom is annoying (the typical beautiful and stupid) but harmless, and the other woman/rival is your typical witch. The weird thing about it is that there were plot points that seemed important but ended up only having a small mention in the book and not that impactful, such as how Worthing got his scar. Also, the fact that the uncle refuse to help Christabel doesn't even get properly addressed in the end. There was even a plot point where the cousin is courting the widow and even kisses her, but the father ends up proposing to her, which I found a bit uncomfortable. This is a clean read and out of the ordinary enough to be above average.