This HaBO comes from Charlotte, who wants to give this historical romance a re-read:
I read a book when I was way too young to be reading such books that featured a heroine I truly do not remember much about.
It was a historical setting, maybe Regency? The heroine starts the story as a servant or maid and through circumstances ends up in the orbit of the male lead. I believe he was an aristocrat of some sort, definitely wealthy. He is disabled, but I couldn’t tell you how exactly, all I remember is the author describing his legs as small and malformed (pardon the ableist language). I believe there was mention of a wheelchair but I’m fuzzy on that one.
I’m pretty sure this book does not exactly stand the test of time, but I’m very curious to read it as a grownup with strong politics instead of a 10-year-old with glowing ears. Thank you!
Sound familiar to anyone?
I thought it might be Lord Carew’s Bride by Mary Balough but the heroine is not servant.
I’m impressed you remember so many details. I think I’ve posted here before that the only thing I remember from my first romance (read at age 14) is that They. Had! Sex!!
This isn’t going to help but I can remember ‘Forever’ by Judy Blume doing the rounds at school. It was a big thing as it had sex in it, and we all read it and his it under our mattresses at home so our Mum’s wouldn’t find out We were reading a dirty book (I think my Mum knew though)
In hindsight, it probably has not dated very well, but then a lot of books written around then haven’t either.
I meant hid it, I swear my autocorrect has it in for me.
Not familiar, but interested.
Could it be Night Secrets by Kat Martin? From what I remember, heroine is a tavern maid who stows away on the hero’s ship to escape her abusive father. They have a short term fling on his ship. Later, he has an accident on his ship and becomes paralyzed. She has inherited money for some reason and goes to see him. He decides since he took her virginity he should pay for lessons so she can become educated and then marry a nice guy. She wants to help him recover from his injury so he can go back to sea which she thinks is his one true love. I have no idea how well it holds up but when I read it 15-20 years ago I positively squeed over it.
I don’t think it was any of these but hole shit do they sound fantastic! It’s definitely expanded my reading list.
The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to suspect it might not have been an English book. I know I was mostly bilingual at the time and given where I lived it’s almost impossible I would have gotten my hands on a book in any language besides English, but maybe that’s what happened?
I was thinking Teresa Medieros’ Yours Until Dawn, but from what I can tell the hero there was blind, not wheelchair bound.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence or another classic novel that isn’t pulp romance?
Too late for your timeframe, but Mary Balogh’s “The Escape” features crutches and a wheelchair as a major plot point.
I don’t know if this is a board no-no (sorry, no harm intended), but Goodreads has a list that could potentially include your book somewhere in its 109 ‘Wheelchair heroes & Romance’:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/135964.Wheelchair_Heroes_Romance
Good luck!
Can’t remember the author… the book is Lady Jane something…. or something Lady Jane.
Jane was a maid who is trying on the pretty dress of her employer’s daughter and is accosted by the son of the household. She racks him a good one and runs off. Instant dismissal. He feels guilty about it and gives her a gold sovereign but she flings it back into his sore privates. The butler offers her a place to live but isn’t even as kind as the son so she leaves. She gets a position off in the country with a woman and her son. Her son, although late-20s/mid-30s, is stunted in growth in the lower part of his body due to a childhood accident and avoids society. Lovely scenes of them falling in love – because it very definitely starts as friends. But momma gets ideas about grandchildren. She talks to Jane without mentioning the ‘m’ word (marriage) and Jane runs away but is quickly found, returned, proposed to, married, involved in a mild sex scene, has a child, and becomes a widow.
Whew… take a breath because that’s only about 1/2 way through. After the death of her husband and her mother-in-law, Jane returns to London with her mother-in-law’s sister (who was instrumental in getting Jane the position originally). In London, Jane is reacquainted with the man who originally accosted her and who does not appear to recognize her. However, the butler who has become the owner of a gambling house, definitely does recognize her. He threatens her son so she shoots him. The man from her servant days (who actually recognized her the entire time but didn’t want to frighten her) comes into the house to protect her (and his sister, also being blackmailed) and sends her home. He makes the shooting look like a suicide.
It was a delightful book and I wish I could remember it because I’d read it again in a heartbeat.
AH! Author is Norma Lee Clark and the title is Lady Jane. See if that’s it.