REVIEW: The River of Time by Dinah Dean
Rags to riches and a second chance of love on the journey of a lifetime.
Mila de Romanin has lived in genteel poverty since she had a choice of two suitors—and chose the wrong one. But an invitation to chaperone her spurned lover’s niece on a trip to find the girl’s father changes everything.
Swept up in her young charge’s adventure, Mila is assured there’s no chance of seeing Igor Grigorovich Charodyev. But their paths cross in Moscow and Mila’s heart is set racing. When Igor decides to accompany them for the rest of the journey, she knows she must keep her secret shame hidden…
As they travel together, all Mila’s long suppressed feelings and regrets surface. Can there be a second chance of love for them, when the river of time continues to flow?
Rich with historical detail of Russia, this sweet and clean historical romance will delight you with a second chance road romance and a handsome, grumpy hero.
Review
We reach the end of Dinah Dean’s Russian Series. I would gladly read several more had she written them but it is what it is. There are several returning characters in “River of Time” including one I dearly hoped to see get his happy ending. Some new characters round out the story during which we travel all over Russia.
Countess Ludmilla Levovna de Romarin is found by a footman in the poor section of St. Petersburg in which she is forced to live. The letter he delivers startles her in more ways than one. The crest on the seal is vaguely familiar as is the last name of the person who sent it. But it just might enable her to earn enough money to be able to survive another summer when the daughters and wives of the merchants to whom she teaches French are away in the country.
When exuberant and young Countess Varvara Denisovna Charodyeva arrives the next day, she manages to delicately hire Mila to accompany her to meet her father, a captain in the Imperial Navy now stationed in Kherson. Needing a lady’s maid, they stop at Countess Tatya Karacheva’s home only to find that lady gone but her redoubtable butler Pavel Kuzmich manages to find a girl who will do. Along with a young Naval Lieutenant Maxim Efremovitch Korovelsky to travel with them, they set off – with a side trip to Moscow for Varya to visit her mother’s grave. While there several more things happen.
To her horror Mila discovers that Varya’s Uncle is none other than Igor Grigorovich Charodyev – the man her father wanted her to marry but whom Mila spurned for a wild, romantic elopement. It’s clear that Igor remembers Mila well and though he is all that is polite, Mila can sense his sardonic manner towards her. He hasn’t married in the twelve years since they last met but he’s come into wealth due to his employment by Alexander Pavlovitch (which we saw in “Wheel of Fortune.”)
Headstrong Varya might be able to get her way with Mila and Maxim but Uncle Igor holds a stronger grip on the reins and, after learning a bit about the old Boyar Moscow that is still rebuilding after the French burned it in 1812, off they head down long roads south towards Kherson. Along the way we see how happy Tatya and Vassily are and get the resolution of another romance we’ve been watching for the past few books. The delightful, no nonsense doctor who saved Lev Orlov’s arm in “Flight from the Eagle” is looking after Tatya in her “delicate condition” and after meeting that lovely woman and learning more about her (including that “free souls are more to her than jewels”) Mila can understand why Igor now loves Tatya. But those who have read “Wheel of Fortune” know something about Igor that will take Mila the rest of the book to figure out while Igor, for all his intelligence, is also stubbornly blind to what is right in front of him.
Dinah Dean cleverly works in Mila and Igor’s mutual misunderstandings using the “river of time” analogy. Life flows forward like a river and once something is in the past, you can’t go back and retrieve it. Or so these two think. Mila is convinced that Igor has repudiated her due to what she did and has shifted his emotions to Tatya and wants Tatya to be happy even if it’s with another man. Meanwhile, Igor labors under a misapprehension about the happiness of Mila’s marriage due to the fact that dark cloth wears better than light pastels. He also finds it impossible to believe that Mila’s father would never forgive her. One thing I liked is that Igor does give way to a teensy bit of pique about the past – that is before he discovers the life of penury which Mila has been living at which point he genuinely wants to know why she didn’t contact him for help. Dean also has each of them realize why they were at cross purposes all those years ago.
Sit back for the ride as it’s going to take a long time for these two to work out how things really are vs how they think things are. In the meantime, Varya and Maxim keep themselves, their elders, and us entertained with their youthful joie de vivre though Mila discovers Varya’s reason for being a little out of control. Dean includes a lot of historical information about small towns and travel in 19th century Russia and Ukraine as well as having her Russian characters engage in discussions of poetry and music. Mila also has an encounter with someone that brought to mind the Pugachev revolt that was the subject of Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter.” It’s obvious to anyone how Igor and Mila feel about each other – even sixteen year old Varya figures it out. But they do have reasons to believe what they do and manners enough to put aside their feelings for the happiness of the other. This makes me want to shake them at times yet it also makes the final reunion a delightful one to wait for. B+
~Jayne
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