A Captive Freedom (Hardcover)

From Publishers Weekly
From the author of The Bridge of a Hundred Dragons comes another spirited historical romance. This one deftly covers the world of the theater and the world of war in its saga of two mismatched lovers: Leila Duncan, toast of the 1896 London stage, and Vivian Veasey-Hunter, officer and nobleman. Vivian, who, because of a technicality regarding his birth, is known as "The Gentleman Bastard," is instantly smitten with the stunning and talented Leila, and the two make a conspicuous pair as they frequent London's night spots. Vivian offers marriage, but Leila adamantly refuses, not revealing that she is already secretly and unhappily married. Vivian, crushed, turns to Julia Marchbanks, a sensuous aristocrat who breaks her engagement to Vivian's brother Charles and quickly makes plans to advance Vivian onto a brilliant military career. Vivian leaves for South Africa and Leila returns to her brutish husband, but the two are destined to meet again as they both are trapped in the city of Kimberley while it is under siege during the Boer war. Byzantine family machinations keep the lovers apart, but Vivian and Leila emerge as heros of the siege. Too many complexities are solved by expedient deaths, yet the book is brisk, competent and often engrossing.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Drummond has produced another engrossing historical novel with a different slant on some standard types and places. She begins her story in London in the late 19th century. Leila Duncan, an ambitious actress, conceals her past as Lily Lowe, a lady's maid and trooper's wife. She captivates Vivian Veasey-Hunter, an aristocratic cavalry officer whose own past holds questions about his military actions and parentage. Leila repulses his initial advances, and their never-tranquil relationship is ended by the reappearance of her husband and Vivian's sudden marriage. Their paths cross once more in South Africa where both are caught in the Boer siege of Kimberley. Drummond's flair for describing setting and action and her ability to develop the characterizations of a large supporting cast are again evident. Recommended.Ellen Kaye Stoppel, Drake Univ . Law Lib., Des Moines
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.