From a nice gentleman named Phillip:
Basically, I’m a guy that likes a girl, we’ve been dating for a month or
two, and I happened across the story of how she became known as Germaine.Turns out, her mother was reading a romance novel in the hospital when she
was born and decided to name her after a character. For Christmas this year,
I want to find this book for her! However, no one knows the name of this
book, not even her mother! The only facts that I know are these:– The main character’s name is Germaine,
– The main character is a nun who escapes or runs away from a convent for love.
– Printed before 1987Unfortunately this is all I have to go by right now…
Anyone remember this book? It’s shopping time (what an awesome gift).
Good luck! If you can pull this off it will go down in the gift hall of fame. Stellar.
The possibilities of her being named after Germaine Greer, feminist writer, are astounding when you consider Greer’s attendance at a private convent.
I have no idea, but I just wanna go…. aaaawwww….that’s got to be one of the sweetest, coolest ideas ever.
get his DNA on file.
the clones will be magnificent!
😉
(can’t help, but he’s an awesome fella!)
Why does this sound familiar to me? I think I might have read this when I was a kid.
Not ringing any bells, but damn if Phillip doesn’t sound like a total dreamboat.
What a sweetie! Wish I knew the name of the book to help him out.
I SURE wish I could help you out, but DAMN, if this gal doesn’t know how lucky she is, send her here and we’ll explain it to her. This is one of those gestures that will make a girl cry.
When’s her birthday? I’ve got a librarian friend I can ask.
I don’t know the book, but if this guy pulls this off, he deserves major kudos. Heck, he should get props just for asking.
why does this make me think of a Victoria Holt?
Should you be unable to track down a copy in time, send her here and we’ll all vouch that you’re a keeper.
I bet you put the seat down and remember her birthday, too.
Could it be one of Chelsea Quinn Yarborough’s St. Germaine vampire books? A MORTAL GLAMOUR is set in a 14th c French convent? Here’s a snippet of description:
A full description is at http://www.curledup.com/mortalgl.htm
Another, less likely, possibility is THE WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys (a prequel to Jane Eyre, about the first Mrs. Rochester). The heroine is in a convent with a girl named Germaine, but that’s really the only similary
Wicked Loving Lies, by Rosemary Rogers, had that plot line but the character’s name was Marisa.
The only romantic novel that comes to mind is by author George Sand (pseudonym of Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin). The title of the book is Germain’s Marriage. However, I should mention that in this book there is no nun escaping from a convent- instead there is a priest who is heavily involved in the main character’s search for a wife. I should also point out that in this book, the name is spelled Germain, not Germaine- and it is a name of the male lead.
Here is the Google Books link: http://books.google.com/books?id=dbUaAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Here’s a link for more info on the author: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/gsand.htm
I doubt this is the book; but I figured I’d mention it since there’s a remote chance it might be.
Honestly, Phillip, if the book doesn’t turn up, just print this page, comments included, and put it in a nice frame.
You clearly give good gift.
Good luck, Philip!
Actually, that one isn’t a St. Germain book, and I don’t remember any of the nuns having a similar name. Also, I’m not sure anyone would think of it as a romance.
BTW, Yarbro.
Sorry, no clue what the book could be, but I hope you can find it.
If you don’t find an answer here I have another suggestion.
On many of the baby name sites they have a place to post comments or join discussions on a particular name.
You might try posting the same question on one of those sites. You could find someone else named Germaine who was named after the same character and they might know the title.
I have no idea about the book, but I want to “aaaaahhhhh” too. Germaine is one lucky girl!
Phillip,
You might want to check out the site What was that book. The community is pretty good about finding books from very few details (sometimes less than you’ve provided here).
Good luck!
found that in the replies to the post on harlequin’s recent “whoopsie”, and figured i’d re-post it here just in case kathy didn’t catch it. 😉
captcha word: miss69? probably not the title of the book he’s looking for.
I thought of Crooked Hearts by Patricia Gaffney, but had to look it up – the fake nun on the run is Grace and it’s published too late (orig 1994).
As someone who was also named after a romance heroine—my mother doesn’t remember which one either—I wish you godspeed! This is going to make her year.
Here’s a link to a description of Erin Pizzey’s Kisses. But it has the character Germaine running TO spiritual life, not away from it. I can’t get a fix on the original pub date; it has been reprinted several times.
I have no clue but will post the description on GoodReads “What’s the Name of that Book?” page: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/244898-pre-1987-romance-about-nun-germaine-escaping-a-convent
I’m not sure you can access it without logging in, but Phillip, feel free to take the thread over.
These places are supposed to be able to help folks find books:
http://www.likesbooks.com/home.html
It seems like the forum is where you’d be able to get help: http://www.likesbooks.com/boards/viewforum.php?f=6
And this forum:
http://www.romantictimes.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
You’ll have to set up an account for them, but that’s pretty painless. Will you post here if you find it?
Oops all the way around, especially on misspelling CQY’s last name. Guess that’s a sign it’s been too long since I last read her books. Will make amends by carrying credit card to B&N.
These may or may not help, but I just asked the librarian where I work if there were any websites where you can search a book by plot keywords rather then title and author and he gave me the following –
http://www.whichbook.net/
http://beta.booklamp.org/
http://www.librarything.com/
I have no idea if that will help in finding this book or not, but it’s worth a shot.
There is an early Lisa Kleypas called “Forever My Love” with a heroine named Mira German. Never read it, so I can’t comment if the plot matches, but perhaps someone else can help out. It was published in late 1988 though.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0451401263?_encoding=UTF8&tag=historicalroma09&linkCode=as3&camp=15041&creative=373501
http://allromancewriters.com/graphicalbooklist.cfm?expand=Yes&authorID=198
Make that name Mira Germain.
I’m still kicking myself for missing I called him St. Germain instead of Saint-Germain.
I suspect there are very few 4000 year old vampires saints.
She has a new one due out December 8. But, you’ll have better luck finding her other books online, if my local B&Ns; are typical.
It’s only sort of a romance, and the description fits so sketchily, but in my brain, this somehow immediately pinged for “The Eight” by Katherine Neville. In it, two of the main characters are novice nuns who are sent away from the convent at the start of the French Revolution. Germaine de Stael is one of the supporting characters, although not the heroine.
But it was published in 1988. So I guess that’s not it.
This isn’t a romance, but it’s about a woman named Germaine de Stael, and I believe a beautiful woman becomes a nun or talks about becoming a nun in one of the chapters:
Mistress to an age: a life of Madame de Staël, by J. Christopher Herold, (found here: http://bit.ly/5tA0xP)
Good Luck!
A NoveList search yielded this book:
In the Shadow of the Castle. by Erin Pizzey. (Harper Paperbacks c. 1984)
“Three friends find themselves in a war between the sexes as pregnant Madeline takes a lover to protest her husband’s infidelities, promiscuous Edwina explores her taste for passion, and Germaine renounces men for more spiritual endeavors.”
Could that be it? It was later reprinted as Kisses, it seems.
After all, renouncing men doesn’t mean you won’t change your mind later on in the story…
😉
I have no idea what book this is, but I keep checking back to see if anyone has found the correct book because it’s such a wonderful gesture on this man’s part. I’m really pulling for him to find the book.
^What Deb said. My word I hope Philip finds the book.
(LOVING the fact that my captcha is love+my year of birth!)
I can’t help, but I”m commenting so that I can be notified when comments show up, because I so want someone to figure this out.
Hey Sarah – can ya’ll add an option like they have over at Dear Author, where you sign up to get notified about follow-ups even if you don’t leave a comment yourself? If that option already exists here and I’m too dorky to realize it, apologies.
This sort of reminds me of a mid/late 80s Harlequin Presents (the one with the round circle?) that I read. Except in this one, the woman is pretending to be a nun as a ploy to keep her safe from some sort of dangerous situation. She meets a pilot? named Sam. He keeps her safe and she reveals that she’s not a nun just before leaving him behind. He comes to find her of course. Oh, those books I read as a teenager!