REVIEW: Captain Ingram’s Inheritance by Carola Dunn
Frank Ingram, an impecunious officer, is seriously wounded at Waterloo. Rescued by Lord Roworth, he meets Roworth’s sister, Lady Constantia, an angel of mercy. But Frank and Connie are each hiding a terrible secret they are sure will prevent marriage to anyone, let alone each other. Rothschild trilogy #3. Regency Romance by Carola Dunn; originally published by Zebra as The Captain’s Inheritance
Dear Ms. Dunn,
After reading Lord Roworth’s Reward, I was eager to see how the love affairs of twins Frank and Fanny Ingram would be resolved. Well, that is Fanny and Felix (Lord Roworth) are happily engaged but what about Fanny’s brother Frank – the wounded artillery officer. This was resolved as I guessed it would be but the journey there was convoluted and far too full of tertiary characters.
When the Battle of Waterloo is over, poor Frank Ingram is near death’s door. His sister Fanny and his batman Hoskins nurse him but without Lord Roworth returning from England after informing Nathan Rothschild of the battle outcome, Frank probably would have died. As it is, his torso is horribly scarred and he will need weeks or months of recuperation. Eventually they all end up at the estate of Roworth’s frosty father and mother (equally frosty). There Frank and Constantia Roworth meet and begin to fall in love. But each knows that he/she will never be able to marry because, guess what, Constantia is also scarred from a childhood accident.
It is while they are still with Felix’s family that a life changing event occurs (which readers who have read book two will know). Suddenly the twins have a place in life after “following the drum” their entire lives. Off they go only to face an outraged relative who is not ready to accept the truth of that “life changing event.” Before long, more relatives descend on them and it soon becomes obvious that nefarious deeds are being done. Will the Ingrams ever be rid of their tiresome relations and will Frank and Constantia find their way to love?
The book starts off with a bit of a recap of books one and two. Readers who have read either or both of these would be advised to wait a bit before getting to this one. Readers who haven’t read those books will be able to forge on as the recap is good and tells everything they need to know.
There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of secondary and tertiary characters in the story. I was already getting some of them mixed up in my head (Felix, Frank, Fanny) before an entirely new bunch got dumped in the book all at once. At that point, I gave up trying to keep some of them clear in my head and just thought of them as an amorphous blob of complaining relatives. I’m sure they were fun to write but honestly they were too much. The weird and potentially lethal things that keep happening were either meant to be funny or were badly written as I immediately knew what was behind them.
Felix has now been thoroughly reformed and is worthy of darling Fanny. Frank is also a darling with a dry sense of humor and will of iron. Constantia is a bit of a powderpuff at first but as the story progresses, I enjoyed seeing her come out of her timidity and stand up not only for herself but also for her friends. Anita is back doing her 3-4 year old child talk stuff. Another nice bit is how Frank and Fanny win over the regard and loyalty of all the servants by treating them with respect and decency.
There is a sweet romance buried under all the clutter though the reason Frank and Constantia have for fearing rejection is fairly tepid and in the end, easily overcome. The good side wins (the way Frank thwarts his relations and sends them packing is masterful) and the bad side is dashed. But the romance is smothered under all these relatives and the clumsy “near miss” accidents. For completeness, I’m glad I read it but I doubt I’d pull it out again. C
~Jayne
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I’m curious about how the Rothschilds are portrayed in these books and what their role in the story is. Also, are any of the other characters Jewish?
@Janine: The Rothschilds aren’t actually in the books much – they mostly have “walk on” parts. Nathan Rothschild’s brother helps recruit Miriam Jacobson in the first book. In the second, Felix reports to Nathan about the outcome of Waterloo and works with other Jewish couriers employed by Nathan. In the third, the villain Duke gets a (much needed and well done) set down by Nathan (but it’s just reported, not actually shown). Miriam and Isaac (h/h of the first book) employ (mostly, I think) Jews in their household.
All the Jewish characters are portrayed as competent, hard working, and caring.
I remember when reading Carola Dunn, that she was the only writer I had seen that even had Jewish characters in her regencies. Didn’t she have a Jewish hero and heroine in one of her books?
I also remember reading Persuasion, and one of the issues our heroine has with Mr. Elliot is that he traveled on the Sabbath. I wondered at the time if that would be a common concern in Ms. Austen’s time.
Most regencies written now, seem to barely mention religion, unless it is about waiting to read the bans before getting married.
@RebeccaA: Yes, the first book in this trilogy, “Miss Jacobson’s Journey” has a Jewish heroine and hero. I have read several Regency era books that mention not traveling on the Sabbath. And this might or might not be period correct but there is an “Inspector Morse” episode called “The Wench is Dead” in which Morse studies an 1859 murder that is the subject of an academic book. In the episode, some 19th century boatmen are tried for and convicted of a murder. It’s mentioned that people of the day looked down on boatmen because they worked on Sundays and thus weren’t able to attend Church (which made them un-Godly in the eyes of the jury).