Apart from a few dull passages here and there, this novel impressed me overall.

The opening chapters are a little slow, yet once the story gets going, the plot has many twists and turns, which kept me interested.

Love the main character, Melisande, and the author does a good job in making me sympathise for this good-natured beauty.

But it’s her good nature and especially her beauty that land her in scrapes with besotted men and jealous women.

There are many intense scenes, but also a lot of funny moments. Ms Plaidy isn’t know as a humourist, though she does tend to create comedy out of old supersitions. The quote below is an example of this. It features a servant called Peg visiting an old woman who’s considered to be a white witch:

>Peg said breathlessly: "Oh, Mrs. Soady did say she have a stye coming and what should she
do?"
"Tell her to touch it with the tail of a cat."
"And Mr. Meaker be feared his asthma's coming back."
"Let him collect spiders' webs, roll them in his hands and swallow them.""Be silent, you ugly old woman. What do you know of such things? How could you be gentleman in search of virility! And let me tell you no amount of lotions would be of any use to you; and what would be the good of knocking years off your age! You were as repulsive at fourteen as you are at forty. As for a night in my magic bed—who in their right senses would want to perpetuate you?" ( )