THE CLOISONNÉ LOCKET, by Barbara Hazard, has all the makings of a particularly fun gothic romance. A beautiful young girl, innocent to the ways of the world; a cynical jaded Duke attracted to her; a certifiably insane, reclusive relative and a revenge plot decades in the making. This is in fact categorized under the heading of 'Regency Romance', but the atmosphere is very foreboding.

Poor Rosemary Barton can't help how she looks—an exotic beauty she inherited from her Italian mother, she had spent the last eight years of her life with her father's sister, Mary Fleming, and her family. A more unremarkable family you shall be hard to meet. With her older cousin about to be set out into society, Aunt Mary turns a jealous eye towards her niece and sends her packing to her reclusive cousin Emily in London. A worse mistake she could never have made.

Hazard does a very good job of setting up the eeriness of Rosemary's new surroundings with Emily. Cantankerous old servants, dingy living conditions and Emily contemptuously telling her that she never wants to know she is even in the same house, all serve to make the reader understand Rosemary's dismay. Her one ray of light at first is her Aunt Mary's childhood friend, the dashing Lady Agatha, wife of a diplomat. She takes Rosemary under her wing and offers her the life all girls her age dream of.

If only I could be as happy with the Duke! From his very first meeting with Rosemary he is antagonistic, ungentlemanly, and outright accusatory of her actions. Further meetings yield scathing glares, disdainful sneers and more mocking words. He is convinced, merely because of how she looks and his own inflated ego, that she is chasing after him. That everything she says, or does, is merely meant to entrap him. It's obvious he is attracted to her, but until the last quarter of the book you'd never guess he was in love with her.

The other cast of characters—from his flighty card-happy mother, his younger crippled sister, prudish wannabe fiancée and Emily's own sleazy nephew—all serve their purposes well. I will say out of them all, his mother gave me the most surprise later in the book.

I do have a few minor problems with the book, such as what would happen exactly when Rosemary told her aunt of Emily's insanity. It's brought up by a few characters that Mary wanted Rosemary gone and never to return, but she did have affection for the girl and no matter what would happen to her daughter's romantic prospects, I wouldn't think she'd have deliberately sent her there if the full extent of Emily's 'eccentricities' had been known. There is also the matter that I would think that Emily's actions at the end of the book would have brought the police into it, at least mentioned if nothing else.

All in all this is an enjoyable read with enough gothic flair to make reading this a cut above the normal Regency romance. ( )

Conceited hero,contrived plot and I dont care if they fall in love. I just know I wouldnt.
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