Noblesse Oblige

A very fine Victorian Romance. This is a story of love gone wrong, evil compatriots, and loyalty to untrue friends. Noblesse Oblige is the obligation of the Nobility to behave in an honourable, generous and responsible manner. Our hero, Branville, falls short of this standard. Uncomfortable in love, he allows a devious friend, Lefbridge, to convince him that what he feels is infatuation. Swayed by this corrupt friend, he drops his true love, Caroline Richmond. His inconstancy causes pain and humiliation to the heroine, Caroline. At the end of the Season she returns brokenhearted to her family's derelict country estate. Her miserly father is angry at her failure to achieve a lucrative engagement. He promises her to an elderly neighbor. This new suitor is Branville's neglected father, The Duke of Walverston. Despite young Branville's violent objections, the couple is married. Branville condemns Caroline as a greedy fortune-hunter. Unfortunately, the elderly Duke doesn't survive the Wedding night. Caroline is now a widow who's purse strings are controlled by Branville. After the mourning period, Caroline returns to Society. She turns her attention to philanthropic endeavors. But her enemies have not forgotten her. Soon Lefbridge is up too his old tricks and Branville is dancing loyally to his malicious tune. The story here is the growth of Branville. How he eventually discovers that he has been maneuvered away from what his heart really desires. He realizes that he has been playing Othello to Lefbridge's Iago. Can he recapture the love he threw away? Can Caroline forgive? This Romance is a pleasure to read. The characters are fully realized. The plot is realistic and interesting. And the resolution follows the maturation of the protagonists. Recommended.

An interesting story! Using all her small inheritance, Caroline makes a splash in London during her one season. She catches the eye of the Marquis of Kimston and a match is made -- but maybe not. Caroline returns home with the Marquis giving her a vague promise but he does not come through after all. Caroline's family is left virtually penniless and she is left with the grumblings of a father (who lacks good sense) and a very ill mother. After her mother's death, Caroline is forced into marriage by her father to the Marquis of Kimston's father -- an aged, flamboyant man. Caroline comes to love him after a fashion but he dies the morning after their wedding. Was the marriage even consummated? The Marquis, now the duke, holds the purse strings and Caroline finds him heartless in his control over her. Rumors swirl around the dowager duchess and Branville (the duke) believes the gossip and tries to keep Caroline under his thumb. She pours her energy into a charity for indigent women. This is such an interesting story with lots of torment and emotion. The duke and dowager duchess love each other but circumstances and a nasty villain with goals of his own get in their way. It was hard to see how this could end happily for either party! This is not a light hearted read and is very intense ... worth reading, a keeper!