REVIEW: That Sweet Enemy by Dinah Dean (aka Marjorie May)
A scarred hero… A courageous heroine!
Homebound after the journey of a lifetime, the resumption of the Napoleonic Wars traps Mary Burns and her companions in Switzerland. They find themselves suspected of espionage by the French and must persuade Captain Armand Dufour of their innocence.
Scarred, cold, and sarcastic, Captain Dufour makes no secret of his loathing of the English, but in his interrogations pays a particular interest to Mary. Then he makes a scandalous proposal: he’ll allow her friends to go free, so long as Mary remains with him as his wife!
With no choice, Mary resigns herself to her fate. But amongst strangers and far from home, she finds herself drawn to darkly compelling and mysterious Armand. Why does he want revenge against Englishwomen? And can the touches of compassion and wit Mary sees in her husband persuade her to stay when she has the chance of escape?
A sweet Traditional Regency Romance with the danger of war, a complicated military hero, and a heroine who will bring him hope. Perfect for fans of Georgette Heyer and Alice Chetwynd Ley, this book was first published under the name Marjorie May.
Review
This is one of the books that Dinah Dean published under another name and it’s wonderful. It’s also one of the more unusual trad regencies I’ve read in that the hero is a French Army officer, it takes place in France and Switzerland, and is set in 1803 during the brief Peace of Amiens. It was also, unfortunately, up until now challenging to find as there was no digital edition. Not anymore! And the cover no longer looks like Japanese Anime.
Mary Burns and some traveling companions are stuck in Soleure, Switzerland which has been annexed by the French under Napoleon. Their fate, being released to travel to Germany and on to England or being interred for the remainder of the war, is in the hands of Captain Armand Dufour. Dufour had been a prisoner of war in England in 1799 and has excellent reasons to hate the English. Hate them with a passion.
After he spends a great deal of time questioning all of them (and he does appear to be making an effort to be fair about it), he eventually offers Mary, who speaks French and has been acting as a translator for his interrogations of her party, a choice. Marry him and stay behind after her party leaves for Germany or they will all be interred for the rest of the war. Mary has heard his story, how he was hideously scarred and wounded, and knows that he is using her for revenge but in the end has little choice but to marry this withdrawn, cold man.
So begins their marriage of revenge. Mary is alone in a strange place, among the enemy and married to one and has to make the best of what she has. She’s never been the type to declare that she will marry for love or not at all. She had actually thought about the growing attentions of one of the English party and had decided if he asked her, she would probably marry him even if just because she had few other prospects and didn’t want to be an old maid. But in all honesty, after she met Dufour, her thoughts had turned more towards him than the wan and declining young Englishman.
One thing she can’t quite figure out is her husband. He talks very little to her but is always courteous if a little cold. He gives her the run of the town and says she can leave for day trips if she wants but where could she run if she tried to leave? She knows he married her for revenge but he treats her well. He’s almost two people, the polite man of the day and then the silent lover at night. Which one is he really? And what are her real feelings for him becoming?
On reading this book again, I’ve decided that as nice as Mary is, she is definitely written as a sheltered young woman who has lived most of her life in a small town. In fact, that was given as the reason she was traveling through Europe – to broaden her horizons. They got broadened all right. Yet Armand is the character who intrigued me most this time. He has a dry, wicked sense of humor yet is also a man who, despite his disabilities, sees to the welfare of not only Mary (in so many little ways) but also his men. His fellow officers like him, look up to him, and respect his opinion. Mary might not initially be able to get behind the cool mask he wears to hide his emotions but he’s got good reason to stay withdrawn.
I loved this book but it does have its flaws. It’s told in the exclusive POV of the heroine but we get hints of the feelings of the others. There is a touch of a “Jane Eyre” ending but it’s not overboard. It’s also a quieter, more old fashioned type of writing style. Dean can correctly be compared to Sheila Bishop and some of the 70’s/early 80’s style regency authors. Armand is about as tortured as they come and Mary acts, thinks, and knows about life as a woman of her time would. It’s pretty obvious to the reader how Armand feels about her but she can be a bit clueless at times mainly because she has had so little exposure to men courting her. There is also a non-con (never repeated) wedding night from hell that seems to be a bit more realistic then these multi-orgasmic virgins of historical regency fame. Overall I’d give it a qualified B+.
~Jayne
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For those interested in reading this book, I would suggest trying online used book stores such as bookfinder or AddALL to find less expensive copies.It’s available digitally now!
I just bought this one from Abebooks, from a seller in England. I can’t wait to get started on it. I’m trying to buy the reasonable priced Dean books. (I have a number of her Russian books already)
@AMG: I hope you like it and will come back and let us know what you think of it.
Another book I read years ago about English internment after the end of the Peace of Amiens that is a bit more reasonable is by Meriol Trevor called The Civil Prisoners
I enjoy DA reviews of older Regencies and have enjoyed reading Barbara Metzger, Carola Dunn, Joan Smith; all unknown to me before the reviews. Well, I knew of Joan Smith’s mysteries (very good). If someone handed me this book, I would read it immediately. I don’t think I will go out of my way to find it, because the list of books I want to read has become so long, I suspect death before completion unless authors and publishers cease publishing immediately.
This does sound intriguing, Jayne. Thanks for the review.
@LML:
This is hitting closer and closer to home for me so expect to see more older books reviewed by me as I delve into ones I’ve owned for years and “have always been meaning to get back to.”
There’s a sale going on now for this one. Only 0.99¢