Reader R writes:
Im desperate. I am (and have been) looking for my first romance novel, the
book that started it all for me. I read it in February 1987. Here’s what I
remember:
Pub date: 1985 – 1987, most likely 1986
Publisher: Zebra (cant remember if it has the hologram on it or not…)
Era: Revolutionary War Era America (at the end the author even had a little
historical note about George Washington)
Heros name: Troy
Heroines name: Cant remember, but she was an indetured servant
They meet when he (and some other dude) come to the house/place of business
where she is a servant. She accidentally spills something on him, and then
helps him clean off, naturally the spill is on his crotch area! They hook
up, she leaves with him, then they somehow get separated, she finds out shes
pregnant, they find each other again, and you know the rest. George
Washington even made an appearance (or the hero was doing something for
him).I have been looking for this book for years. I even search through any old
Zebra books I find from back in the day to see if they have it listed
(because thats what they used to do).
No kidding, I’m more convinced every day that few forget their first romance…with George Washington. Anyone remember this book?
I know it’s definitely not the book I’m thinking of, but you could always try Beyond Surrender. North and Dani are the main characters in it and George Washington makes an appearance in that as well as the “stallion of Northern Virginia.”
This sounds vaguely familiar. I know that Cynthia Wright wrote some books with such a setting in the late 1980s / early 1990s, maybe you could check those out?
In responce to book search: Is it –
Lynne Hayworth’s Autumn Flame, published by Zebra Books in 2001, details the adventures of Lucy Graves, a London pickpocket transported to Virginia as an indentured servant. … Action meanders between the 1770s and the 1980s, letting the author … Williamsburg resident on the eve of the American Revolution.” …
?
Can’t be, if that’s published in 2001. This was read back in the 80’s. Reader R strikes me as an intelligent person, but also one without a time-travel machine.
You might try Valerie Sherwood – she wrote “To Love A Rogue” (late-80s publication). It featured an female indentured servant from New England who ends up on a ship and then Barbados with a side trip to Virginia and South America, I think. The time period is similar to the book you’re looking for – Revolutionary War – but I don’t think George Washington was one of the historical figures featured in the book. …Maybe another book by this author?
Probably not Valerie Sherwood. I read a lot of her books and they were not in the Zebra hologram publishing line.
Wish I had access to my collection of Zebra’s! I’d check em out, I think I read this book too, there were many good revolutionary war and wild west period books written at that time!
George would have made a lousy hero for an indentured servant. When one of his slaves, Oney Judge, ran away from the Presidential House in Philadelphia (where the capital was temporarily) he advertised a reward in the paper for anyone who brought her back, tracked her to New Hampshire, and asked the Secretary of the Treasury to have her brought back by force. When the New Hampshire officials refused, Washington wrote that she “without the least provocation absconded from her Mistress.” Without the least provocation? She was a SLAVE! George Washington was no hero.
It could be a reprint.
It’s definitely Defiant Surrender by Barbara Dawson Smith [link]http://www.fictiondb.com/author/barbara-dawson-smith~defiant-surrender~34632~b.htm[/link]. Hero Troy Fletcher meets up with Elise d’Evereaux, (IIRC in Quebec) who spills wine on his breeches. It’s book two of a duology. The first book, Defiant Embrace is about his brother Jason, (the siblings all have Greek names, sister is Pandora) and his heroine Mirella.
I loved them both and read them several times throughout the 80s and 90s. I still have them in my garage and often think about rereading them again.
Enjoy!