Devil's Fire, Love's Revenge

by Barbara Paul, Rosalind Laker, Barbara Øvstedal

Some said a witch had cursed the hill, others that it had once been the lair of wolves whose howling was borne on the chill wind that blew through the passages of Halewood Hall.

But now in 1848, the last of the tragic family that had lived at Halewood was dead and a railway line would shortly tear the land apart. Only Delia Gilmore, betrothed to the civil engineer responsible for the railway, cared enough to summon Halewood's last surviving heir. Little did she know that she, too, would become enmeshed in the final episode of Halewood's tragedy.

Genres: Gothic, Romance, Historical

254 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Barbara Paul is one of the pseudonyms of Barbara Øvstedal. She stopped using this name when another author of the same name (Barbara Paul) gained popularity; and changed over to the pseudonym Rosalind Laker.

AKA Barbara Douglas.

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh I'm having a hard time to find the right words for a proper review - but they're not coming out right so I yield. This was a nice little love-triangle bit with a girl torn between her fiancé (they've known each other since children) and the man who comes to claim the ancient (and some say cursed) house of his ancestors.

All in all a nice little bit of romance, mystery and gothic. I wouldn't drop everything to get your hand on a copy, but if you find one it's a worthwhile read. Don't miss the Patrick Swayze lookalike on my cover :)

Barbara Paul is a penname for Rosalind Laker

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come soon.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre.

It was well-written & the scenes featuring the sinister house were good; alas, there was a lot of long-winded filler & too many unlikable/dull characters to keep my interest. If the narrative had been more tightly constructed it would’ve been much better; as it was, the author seemed less into the spooky house & more into discussing railroads or the petulant males of the piece. Meanwhile, Melissa’s flouncing was a completely useless subplot that could easily have been cut—the book would’ve been all the better for a narrowed focus.

3 stars. Not awful, but not great either. Berenice was the best character & I wish she’d been given more pagetime.


{NTS: Save for Sandi.}

[Chrisangel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story, though the h's Victorian sense of duty got to be really annoying after a while. Her choosing the OM over the H, because she felt she owed him because they had a history, because he was an invalid, because whatever, got so annoying, I didn't blame the H for staying away for a very long time. In fact, I wouldn't have blamed him if he never returned, but since she at last came to her senses (and her engagement to the OM was a platonic one), I guess she deserved another chance.

It's a well written book, but the story was frustrating. still, it's not bad reading to pass the time of day.