Lord Hugo's Bride

Lord Hugo #1

by Marina Oliver

Lord Hugo, Earl of Winton, needs a wife and an heir if his weak cousin William and his unpleasant French wife Hortense, with the son who might not be her husband's, is not to succeed him.

He decides Phillipa Stannerly will be suitable. She is pretty, and an heiress. Phillipa, in love with Charles, is distraught.
Then her French cousin Sophie du Plessis comes to London and promises to help her. Their mothers were twins, and the girls are sufficiently alike to confuse people who do not know them well.

When Hugo sees Sophie on her own he offers her a lift home, intending to pursue his suit in the belief she is Phillipa. She maintains the deception, hoping to prove to her uncle that Hugo is not a fit husband for Phillipa.
Her behaviour is, however, unlike Phillipa's shy response, and Hugo is intrigued.

291 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1980

About the author

Marina Oliver was born in 1934. She graduated from Keele University in Politics and Economics.

Marina started published historical romances, in 1974, at Robert Hale, and since 1977 also under the pseudonym of Sally James. In 1981, she published a novel as Donna Hunt at Minstrel Books. Since 1983, she uses de penname Bridget Thorn. In 1992, she also published a novel as Vesta Hathaway and in 2000 as Laura Hart. She has published more than fifty novels under her name and her pseudonyms, plus half a dozen non-fiction books. Her novels are historical romances as well as twentieth-century sagas, contemporary romances and crime. She has edited her own quarterly magazine, and also many books and newsletters, mainly for educational organisations.

Marina was elected the sixteenth Chairman (1992-1993) of the Romantic Novelists' Association, edited its Newsletter for 3 years, and now has been elected a Vice-President and runs the R.N.A. New Writer's Scheme. She reads for and judges short story competitions, reviews historical novels, and has done appraisals for (among others) a prestigious Regional Arts board.

Married with Chris, they had four children, Jackie, Debbie, Cindy and Simon, and several grandchildren, Marina now splits her time between rural Shropshire and Madeira.