You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
Bitchery reader Nancy asks for help:
I’ve recently been loving your help a bitch out service and I was hoping to submit a request. Unfortunately I don’t think these have enough detail for anyone to figure out what book this is, but I hope you and your readers will rise to the challenge.
It was one of those Harlequin historical type romances that was about 190 pages. Not sure of the exact time period. There’s an army retreating across Russia – or somewhere in Europe and they come upon an inn where there’s a dead old lady and her young companion. The girl goes with the army and falls in love with the captain/major/guy in charge.
That’s about as obscure as a description can get. Reads like one of my “Guess That Lonely Heart” ads, almost. Anyone got an idea?
Flight from the Eagle, by Dinah Dean
OH.MY.GOD! That’s it!! I recognized the cover as soon as I saw it on amazon. How did you do that? You are incredible!
Dang that deserves some type of prize.
That really does! I think that the SB should give some kind of minor title (Something in Waiting?) to those who can get it in one!!
Yeah, the award should be for fastest time from post to novel identification. Also, now that I’ve looked into buying this on Amazon I realize that my mom must’ve reaaaaalllly liked those masquerade historicals cause I recognize (and remember) an awful lot of them. As in, I remember stealing them out of my mom’s romance novel stash to read when I was 12. Ah good times.
Wow, I’m impressed!
I can name that Romance in three sentences!
If you want another romance with a fairly similar storyline, try The Spanish Bride, by Georgette Heyer, based on the true story of Harry and Juana Smith. Excellent descriptions of the English army and the Peninsula campaign.
But can you name that romance in TWO sentences, Yvonne?
It was first published as “The road to Kaluga”, then shortened and retitled to fit the standard Mills & Boon format. The first few chapters were cut, so you miss how Lev gets to where he and Irina meet. However, this version sells for hideous amounts of money these days, like several other of Dinah Dean’s books.