Palace of the Peacocks

by Violet Winspear

Temple se dirigió a los mares de Java para casarse con su prometido, pero descubrió que otra mujer había ocupado su lugar. Fue entonces cuando conoció al enigmático holandés Ryk van Helden, que le ofreció trabajo, pero Temple pronto descubrió que estar a solas con él podría llevarla a una situación peligrosa que era mejor evitar. Él le aseguró que sólo le interesaba como secretaria y no como mujer (aunque fuese la única en el mundo). Pero sus palabras podían ser una trampa...

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance

275 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Violet Winspear was a British author renowned for her prolific output of romance novels, publishing seventy titles with Mills & Boon between 1961 and 1987. In 1973, she became a launch author for the Mills & Boon-Harlequin Presents line, known for its more sexually explicit content, alongside Anne Mather and Anne Hampson, two of the most popular and prolific British romance writers of the time. Winspear began writing while working in a factory and became a full-time novelist in 1963, producing her works from her home in South East England, researching exotic settings at her local library. She famously described her heroes as lean, strong, and captivating, “in need of love but capable of breathtaking passion and potency,” a characterization that provoked controversy in 1970 when she stated that her male protagonists were “capable of rape,” leading to considerable public backlash. Her novels are celebrated for their vivid, globe-spanning settings and dramatic tension, often employing sexual antagonism to heighten conflict between the alpha male hero and the heroine, who is frequently portrayed as naïve or overwhelmed by his dominance. Winspear never married or had children, and she passed away in January 1989 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a lasting influence on the romance genre.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dreamy, evocative setting of a Javanese island was much better than the lackluster story of a poor English urchin who finds herself the reluctant guest of a Dutch throw back to pirate times (complete with black triangular eyepatch), ruling over said island like a half-man, half-tiger deity.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 Stars ~ When Temple was orphaned she'd gone to live with her aunt and two cousins where she was never allowed to forget her indebtedness. She'd fallen in love with a young man whose company sent him to the Indies to work, and for five years, she'd scrimped and saved and put up with her family so that she could join him. Finally, when she arrived she found Nick embroiled in an affair with a local girl and she broke off their engagement. With her funds dwindling, Temple must find work, and learns that on another island an oil company employs European secretaries, and so she tries to get passage on a ship but learns it's all booked, except for a shared berth with a Dutchman. Desperate to leave on this ship, as the next one is in a month's time, she disguises herself as a young man, and this begins her next adventure.

Ryk's family ties to the Java islands goes back to the colonization of the Indies by the Dutch, but now the islands belong to the people. He manages the island of Bayanura, known for it's tea, tobacco and teak plantations, for the Java Crown Prince. He's 33 but he claims to be pushing 40, and he's not at all fooled by Temple's disguise as a young man. Temple doesn't know what to make of the big blond Dutchman with the single piercing grey eye as the other was covered by an eye patch. When he learns she's seeking work to earn her fare home to England, he offers her a job typing up the many diaries of a young English girl, Polyana, who married by proxy a Dutch ancestor, and then joined him in the Java island colonies. Hearing about Polyana intrigues Temple, as she agrees to the job. Ryk's home is actually one of the many palaces of the Crown Prince, known as the Palace of the Peacocks, and is quite beautiful. For propriety, Temple is given a teahouse on the estate and an island house girl, Mei, to look after her needs. Right from the start Temple can see that Mei is infatuated with Ryk and resents very much Temple's intrusion.

Temple loves her work, finding the diaries absorbing and can easily envision Polyana and her husband and the people in their lives. Ryk finds Temple very young in her ideals and teases her on her lost "dream" of love, but when Temple spars back that a man as cold as Ryk couldn't possibly understand what it is to love, she learns of the tragic death three years ago of his fiancee, setting a tone of coolness between them. Temple's generous nature makes her popular with the locals, all except her housegirl, Mei. From the day she arrived, Temple felt spied upon and little events meant to frighten her began to happen. She found herself living on edge, something Ryk interprets as a revulsion to him. Temple's far from repulsed, and fights hard her growing attraction.

Violet Winspear was an author I adored reading as a teenager. I think this is the first time I've read this story but it brought back some of those "eager to read about love feelings" I had when I first read her books. I'm sure I would have remembered the rugged, well-built, tall, blond, one-eyed Dutchman, he's not a hero to forget! Ryk doesn't expect to ever love again but Temple breathes a freshness into his life and she brings out his protective instincts. I really enjoyed the battles between Ryk and Temple, and added with the sinister, Mei, made this an enjoyable read.

[Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Violet Winspear's "Palace of the Peacocks" the heroine Temple Lane is typical of so many of her vintage romance sisters: orphaned, industrious, faithful, and unworldly. When she flies out to Indonesia to meet up with her long-time fiance, her life falls into shambles after she discovers his affair with a local girl.

Without any funds and no way back home, she's desperate to find employment. Temple disguises herself as a boy to gain entry on a ship. She's bunked with stoic, one-eyed, Dutchman Ryk van Helden (Winspear had a thing for maiming heroes, didn't she? Blinding them, cutting off their limbs, etc.,). Eventually, Temple's true identity is revealed and Ryk offers Temple a job transcribing old journals in his beautifully enchanting palace. Ryk also provides Temple with housing and a female servant. The maid is obvious in her resentment of Temple, as she has designs on Ryk herself.

As the weeks pass, Temple slowly falls under the combined spell of the romantic tale she's working on and the seductive surroundings. Not to mention her cold, yet dangerously attractive employer. Ryk treats Temple dismissively and acts superior to her in every way, but she's no meek girl and meets his seeming disdain with lots of spirit.

I really enjoyed this book, despite it containing my big romance pet peeve of the hero-in-mourning-for-his-dead-lover. Fortunately, Winspear doesn't ever go into Ryk's head; he's written enigmatically until the very end. That's what I like: a man of mystery, albeit one we know deep down, is falling hard for his heroine. None of this psychoanalyzing the hero's thoughts every two pages. Give me that long-awaited declaration of love in the end!

"Palace of the Peacocks" is a satisfying romance with a jealous other-woman, an entrancing locale, a heroine who gives as good as she gets, and a seemingly-cool hero who falls madly for her.

3 1/2 stars rounded up to 4

[RomLibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Temple Lane had gone out to the Java Seas to marry her fiance, but all her plans fell through when she found someone else had taken her place. In her desperate endeavours to get away from the situation, she met the Dutchman Ryk van Helden—and promptly found she had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire! It was difficult enough being the only white girl for miles around—but the greater problem was how to cope with what she soon recognised as the devastating attraction of her new employer.

[Bea Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had lots of elements I rather enjoyed, from stowing away on a ship to helping deliver a baby... it felt like a rather jolly adventure story. Alas as a romance it fell little flat for me, there is far more chemistry with the American doctor and I found myself wishing he was a the H. I also feel as though there was a dropped storyline with Polyanna's diaries and the whole glove bride thing, I really thought it was going to have more relevance to the main story, and what the frig was up with Mei? It felt like VW started out with lots of ideas and just sort of jettisoned them as the book went on.

[Toni-Lea Chin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should be use to it by now but it still amazes me when heroines jump to conclusions to conclusions to conclusions.

Decent read though a bit repetitive at times. Abrupt ending.

[Cerulean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Orientalism at its most ignorant.

[Marwah .Qoura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good one by the Queen of Harlequin romance ..

[Noemail]

have at least 2

[Usagi Tsukino · Rating 1 out of 5]

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