Rachel's Passage

by Paula Reid

Rachel agrees to marry Seth, an older man her parents have chosen for her, only because Peter, the man to whom she lost her heart, has been missing since his impressment in the British navy more than a year before. When Peter returns as if from the dead, Rachel is torn between her youthful promise to wait for him and her growing realization that she has found true love with Seth. Set in New Castle, Delaware, in the early 1800s. Winner of Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best American Historical Romance.

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl falls for lazy lout, who we all know is really a bum, because despite his broad shoulders, slim hips, and handsome face, he has a mouth that turns down at the corners. When he runs off for fame and fortune, the noble, intelligent, and kind owner of the local paper comes to court her. But he's old! (30 to her 19) and scarred! (from a saber cut fighting the dern British at General Washington's side.) and he's not the handsome loutish lad, (who also is overfond of drink and deceitful, too. Can you see where this is going? If you guessed straight into marriage and a Big Misunderstanding, you're spot on. Add in self- divorce and criminal conversation (google it. Go ahead, I'll wait.) and some Federalism era politics you've got the basic story ( though considering all the talk of criminal conversation, which still is the legal term on the subject in North Carolina and some other states, Rachel's passage probably has an unintended double meaning.)



Actually, there were some interesting bits here and there, mostly due to Paula Reid (Schwartz)'s good research. She was a friend of my mother's (known as my friend, the romance writer, who also wrote under the names
Paula Jonas, Paula Reibel, Paula Reidalos, and regency stuff under the name of Elizabeth Mansfield. I believe she took my mom to a Romance writer's conference once, which pulled my mother to a different sort of book to read. Until that time Georgette Heyers and Jane Austen were her chick lit. For the last 15 or 20 years of her life, whole new worlds were opened up, thanks to that trip.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took this book with me on a university band trip to Ireland thinking that it would make for a decent throwaway book to keep me entertained during the flight and the interminable waits at the terminals. It performed admirably in that task, but did not exceed expectations. In other words, I left it in my hotel to make room for new book acquisitions on the flight back.

Despite being unable to convince me to take it home with me, the book was actually not bad and it had the intriguing bonus of being set in Delaware around the colonial era. Perhaps this would not be as intriguing if I hadn't lived in Delaware for the past twenty one years, but it was a great selling point for me. Even if I hadn't been trapped in an airport (and finally an airplane) I would have finished the book just to see how the author chose to portray New Castle, Delaware.

The story itself may or may not have been standard for colonial-era romances. I'm more of a Regency girl, so this was a bit out of my comfort zone, but the story seemed fairly straightforward to me, combining modern sheikh romances with Regency ones. From the sheikh romances it borrows the matter of children and which parent ought to have custody (trust me, this is a common theme in such books). The inclusion of children didn't really make it any more enjoyable for me, but at least they didn't have too much of a speaking part. From the Regencies it borrows the matter of fidelity and what is considered proper by society.

It bends genres a bit by covering an impressive period of time, but otherwise it's a pretty predictable tale of a woman who gets herself in over her head and someone (male) who is competent and aloof solves her problem for her while they fall in love. There are a few marriages, and more than one is that of the heroine if I recall correctly, so that's something new and different, though not unexpected given how many years the book spans.

Because I fell asleep on the plane I found myself reading it in the hotel room, when I probably should have been sleeping off my jet lag, so let that serve as my final word: I read it even when I didn't have to and didn't count it a hardship to do so.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was picking up a lunchtime read, but found myself enjoying this historical romance, set in, of all places, New Castle, Delaware in the early 1800s. The love story focuses on "criminal conversation" (adultery) -- and the historical details about the legal system are accurate for the time.

Rachel Mason seeks out the counsel of a well-known attorney. Accused of adultery, she must prove her innocence or give up custody of her child. Agreeing to take the case, her lawyer orders her to write her side of the story.

The resulting tale follows a girl's journey from first-/calf-love as a teenager into womanhood, where she experiences true love -- and painful rejection.

Separated and desperate, Rachel has no choice but to take the name of the man who has ruined her happiness. When he deserts her, Rachel is forced to fight for her child -- and reconciliation with her first husband -- who is as convinced of Rachel's guilt, as he is deeply in love with her.