Review: The Chaperone

Title: The Chaperone
Author: Ethel Gordon
Publisher: Dell Publishing Co., Inc.
Original Date of Copyright: 1973
Genre/Sub-genre: Gothic Romance
Part of a Series? No

I was impressed by the quality of the writing in this book, and by the fact that the author made the heroine self-possessed and not entirely wholesome. For an example of both the writing and the heroine's character, here is the first paragraph of the novel:

I received Miss Millicent Waldron's letter on the last day of school. It was the day of the annual farewell party for the faculty of the Burns Junior College for Women, and the Burns sisters who owned and headed the school had acceded to the times at last and allowed gin to be served. I'd had two martinis, but by the time I reached my apartment the elation of the alcohol was evaporating, my head was pounding, and my spirits were unaccountably low. (5)

However, in the end I was disappointed by the romance, which was flat, passionless and not described in a satisfying way. The hero, while dark and brooding, was not as attractive a figure as I had hoped, being too realistically flawed, as the hapless owner of a crumbling hotel, having gambled away his and his brother's money. The expression of sensuality was also entirely lacking.