Books › Those Who Love
Those Who Love
First published 1971 · 266 pages
A tense, vintage marriage-of-convenience romance steeped in bitter memories and protective devotion.
What it feels like
Reading this vintage romance feels like stepping into a tempest of duty, bitterness, and tangled affections. The narrative moves at a steady, deliberate pace, anchoring the reader in an atmosphere thick with haunted memories and unspoken tension. It is a story steeped in the classic tropes of a marriage of convenience turned complicated, where a brooding, protective hero stands between a naive heroine and a dangerous rival. The prose is emotionally heightened and earnest, capturing the dramatic stakes of love and sacrifice with a distinctly mid-century flair. It will delight readers who crave old-school romantic melodrama, where past tragedies cast long shadows over present desires, and every interaction is laced with desperate, protective devotion.
- Mood
- angsty
- haunted
- tense
- dramatic
- Tone
- earnest
- melodramatic
- bitter
- protective
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- marriage of convenience · duty versus desire · haunted pasts · protective love · romantic entanglement
- The writing
- Emotionally heightened and earnest, capturing the dramatic stakes of love and sacrifice with a distinctly vintage flair.
- The arc
- Moves from bitter resignation and near-death despair to a tense, protective standoff fueled by hidden passions.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave old-school romantic melodrama, marriages of convenience, and brooding, protective heroes.
Content notes
- illness and near-death experience
- death of a young woman
About the book
She fell in love but learned too late thar it was not worth it!
"Tell Auburn... I... loved him so!" -- These last words from a dying girl still haunted Dr. Noel Frensham; still made him bitter.
The voyage back from India had been a memorable one for Frensham. Racked with a terrible sickness, he had come very close to death. Convinced that his hours were numbered, he had persuaded a pretty fellow passenger, Peta Marley, to marry him, hoping to repay her goodness with the money he would leave her after his death. But amazingly he had recovered.
It was then that Peta told him of her love for Auburn Lyell. She pleaded with him to annul their marriage and set her free. But Noel had seen death on one young innocent face because of this man, and he was determined to prevent it happening again.
Description from Open Library.
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