HaBO: Leprosy again!

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by SB Sarah | December 08, 2011 | Thursday at 9:26 am | 16 Comments

Pat wrote in looking for a book she read a long time ago, and she's been looking for it since then:

I am looking for a title/book. I found your website through a "romance
novel leper highway man" search.

I thought it was "Rosamond" by Rosemary Somebody or other, but now I can't find the title or it anywhere. I read it
back in the 80's.

Main character Rosemond/Rosamund has cruel stepmother who
hides her beauty by dressing her dreadful. Father dies, stepmother's lover
tries to seduce Rosamund, she escapes, falls into wonderful highway man's
arms who is her true love, rides the highway with him, he "dies" just as
they are to board ship to escape England, she ends up pregnant and stranded
with a Spanish man, she marries Spanish man and has to go live with his mean
family, he gets leperosy, stages his death, but watches over her from afar.

Meanwhile her child grows up to be a beautiful young girl, and mean in laws
make her wed the evil "Lord" in the area, mom stands in at wedding for
daughter, and just as weird mean guy is about to kill Rosamund, Spanish
husband and the English Highway man (who has been living and earning his
fortune as a Dutch trader) swoop in and saves her.

Have you ever read/or heard of this? It is driving me crazy, please help.

So, there's really not enough romances with leprosy, as I've said before. Anyone remember this book?

Filed: General Bitching, Help a Bitch Out

Tagged: wtfery, old skool, leprosy, help a bitch out, awesomesauce

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Yep, that's me :-) I'm also, as a reader, Easily Distracted by HaBo postings here -- I love a puzzle-solving challenge!
Posted by susannakearsley on 2011-12-10 20:05:14 I would totally read a book called romance novel leper highway man
Posted by L. Sumrall on 2011-12-10 18:48:58 OMG! Are you the Susanna Kearsley, author of The Winter Sea? Fangirl squeee!
Posted by The Other Susan on 2011-12-09 20:54:35 And so was Jennifer Wilde.
Posted by The Other Susan on 2011-12-09 20:51:54 @susannakearsley - I think I was one of the people who chimed in on the original thread that they remembered the novel too, so yeah it really, really does exist and isn't a conglomeration.
Posted by FD on 2011-12-09 16:14:18 @Susannakearsley--Trust me, I can't make that stuff up. I've been searching for that novel for a few years now ever since our last SBTB discussion of leprosy. You'll be added to my shortlist of people who want me to yell out the title as soon as I re-discover it.

I remember it was one of those rapetastic 80's romance novels you couldn't stop reading (and I did read it in the 80's), and I seem to recall the hero doing a great grovel at the end, down in dirt on his knees amongst the lepers, washing the heroine's feet. I can see that damn scene in my head!

Oh well, someday someone will be able to HaBo by remembering for me.

Posted by Darlene Marshall on 2011-12-09 13:32:04 Darlene, that made me choke on my coffee! When you do remember what book that was, let me know, OK?
Posted by susannakearsley on 2011-12-09 10:50:42 BINGO!!! You guys are great, thanks so much for the help!!!
Posted by Pat on 2011-12-09 10:01:36 Aaargh! I still can't remember the name of my favorite leprosy novel (how often do you get to say that?) from the 80's with its over-the-top alphahole hero whose mother died of leprosy, so the heroine hides from him in a leper colony knowing he'll never follow her there. Some day I'll remember what it was.
Posted by Darlene Marshall on 2011-12-09 09:14:45 As usual, I didn't know what this book was, but it sounded like so many of those 70s/80s historical romances (kinda Philippa Carr-ish). I always end up wanting to read these HaBOs, the crazier the better.

I didn't know that about Madeleine Brent. I learned *something* today!
Posted by Susan on 2011-12-08 17:23:27 A bit off topic, but my favorite leprosy romance was called Roses from a Haunted Garden, by Jean Francis Webb. And the "i" in the middle name wasn't a typo, he was a man writing romance way back in the day. Turned out two of my favorite romance writers back then were male--Madeleine Brent was also a guy.
Posted by Throwmearope on 2011-12-08 14:45:54 Opps filed to soon. What I meant was that I thought it might be Rapture, too, but I read so many of those books, that pegging it to one title was beyond my abilities. Really, sometimes it was like the names & locales were the only thing different from book to book.
Posted by Donna on 2011-12-08 13:36:31 I thought it might be Rapture, too.
Posted by Donna on 2011-12-08 13:33:25 I think Donna's right -- I think this may be Rapture, by Rosamond Royal. Here's a Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/...

And one of the reviews mentions it beginning and ending with the wedding of the daughter to a nasty man.

Love that Highwayman cover :-)
Posted by susannakearsley on 2011-12-08 13:22:07 No idea either, but this sounds like a Valerie Sherwood/Rosamund Royal WTF fest.
Posted by donna on 2011-12-08 11:56:12 I have no idea, but I just want to say that I LOVE crazysauce HaBos. This totally made my day. I'll let someone who's more familiar with Rosemary Rogers and her ilk solve the mystery.
Posted by cleo on 2011-12-08 10:30:36

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HaBO: Leprosy again!