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La Trilogie Roxbury, Tome 1 : La Rose de Mayfair



Description ajoutée par Girlbook 2011-05-02T14:07:09+02:00

Résumé

Silence, les suffragettes ! Pour le député Dandridge, il faut faire taire ces hystériques aux revendications extravagantes. Et pour discréditer le mouvement, le mieux est de s'en prendre à leur porte-parole, Mlle Caledonia Rivers. Afin de ruiner sa réputation, Dandridge s'adresse à Hadrien St. Claire, jeune photographe qu'il va grassement payer pour devenir l'intime de cette pétroleuse et réaliser " la photo la plus scandaleuse possible ", qui révélera au monde sa nature foncièrement dépravée. Couvert de dettes, Hadrien accepte le contrat, mais il n'avait pas prévu de s'enflammer pour son sujet...

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Classement en biblio - 52 lecteurs

extrait

Extrait offert par Hope Tarr :

"Your denial of my citizen's right to vote, is the denial of my right of consent as one of the governed, the denial of my right of representation as one of the taxed, the denial of my right to a trial by a jury of my peers as an offender against the law; therefore the denial of my sacred right to life, liberty, property..." ~ Susan B. Anthony

United States of America v. Susan B. Anthony, 1873

Westminster, London

February 1890

"Votes for Women now. Votes for women NOW!"

The protestors' voices pitched higher still, shriller still, or so it seemed to Hadrian as he hurried across Westminster Bridge, the wind tearing at his greatcoat and scarf and threatening to rip the bowler from his head. Stepping out onto the crowded street, he tightened his grip on his camera, a German-made Anschütz with a shutter mechanism capable of arresting motion to one-thousandth of a second. He'd put the equipment to good test that afternoon at St. Thomas Hospital photographing a newly discovered medical anomaly. The poor bastard had been born with an enormous scrotum, tumor-mottled skin, and a chronic palsy that would have rendered traditional photographs little better than a blur. Even so, using his talent to turn a fellow human being into little better than a circus freak hadn't set well with Hadrian, and the subject's sad-eyed patience in holding any number of humiliating poses had made him feel like the lowest of beasts. Now frozen, footsore and famished, he couldn't reach his studio soon enough.

But to do so he first had to run the gauntlet of suffragists who'd overtaken Parliament Square. They'd camped out for coming on two days now, creating a bloody nuisance for pedestrians and conveyances alike. Dressed in somber grays and serious blacks, the fifty-odd females picketing beneath the gray wash of winter sky might just as easily pass for a funeral procession as a political rally were it not for the placards the women held aloft and the noise they emitted — especially the noise.

"Miss Caledonia Rivers to speak on the subject of female emancipation... Hallman's Assembly Rooms... tomorrow evening... seven o' clock."

Dodging traffic to cross to the sidewalk, Hadrian could only shake his head. That any woman fortunate enough to possess a roof and four walls would march about in the bitter air struck him as a sort of perverse self-indulgence, a foolishness on par with going slumming in the stews or touring prison yards to observe the convicts picking oakum. He had no patience for it, none at all and when one bug-eyed female had the audacity to try and stuff a pamphlet in his already full hands, he swallowed an oath worthy of his Covent Garden days and darted inside the park's gated entrance.

He realized his mistake at once. Apparently not content with clogging the sidewalks, the damnable females had made camp within the park proper. A platform had been erected in the center of the green and several more dark-clad women busied themselves lighting the torches set about its perimeter. Giving them broad berth, he kept his head down and his sights trained on the opposite end of the wrought-iron gate.

The blare of a bobbie's whistle from outside the park walls instinctively sent him swinging around — and barreling into a female's soft body. "Ouf!"

Hadrian stared down in horror. The woman he'd knocked off her feet now sprawled at his, feathered hat askew and skirts bunched. On the frost-parched-grass beside her, a leather briefcase crammed with papers stretched wide open.

He went down on his knees beside her. "Madam, are you all right?" Unleashing his grip on the camera, he slid an arm beneath her shoulders.

She jerked at his touch. Behind the netting of veiled hat, her green eyes flashed fire. "It's miss, actually." She elbowed her way upright and yanked down her skirts — but not before Hadrian caught sight of a pair of appealingly trim ankles. "And I would be in fine fettle indeed had you but seen fit to mind where you were going." Broken peacock feather dangling over her one eye, she got to her knees and began collecting her papers.

Courtesy toward women was deeply ingrained, one of the few values Hadrian possessed, and the only claim he could make to being a gentleman by deed if not by birth. And so rather than point out that she had bumped into him as well, he held out his hand to help her up. "Allow me."

Beneath the weight of that atrocious hat, her head snapped up. "I believe I have had quite enough of your help for one day."

As if bent on proving her wrong, the demon wind kicked up, scattering vellum sheets to the four winds.

She leapt to her feet. "My papers!" Hiking up her skirts, she gave chase across the park. Over her shoulder, she shouted, "Well, don't just stand there. Do something!"

Bloody hell. With a muttered prayer that his camera would still be there on his return, Hadrian abandoned it to run after her. Hell bent on cheating the wrangling wind, he plucked one sheet from its skewer of wrought-iron fencepost and another from the foot of the statue of the late Benjamin Disraeli. At the lady's insistence, he retrieved two more from the upper branches of one very tall, very scratchy oak tree. Breathless, bruised, and sporting a tear in his coat, he shoved the last of the papers in his pocket and climbed down. Dropping to the hard-packed ground, he scanned the square for signs of his erstwhile victim, but she appeared to have vanished.

He was on the verge of giving up and going on his way when he spotted her, down on all fours and buried shoulder-deep in the boxwood hedge. Coming up behind her, he tapped her smartly on the back. "What the devil do you think you're about?"

From beneath the branches, her muffled voice answered, "Collecting my papers naturally." She crawled out, feathers hanging at half-mast and a clutch of vellum in one grubby glove.

This time she accepted his hand up without argument. Standing face-to-face, he saw she was tall, nearly a match for his six feet. The novelty of looking a woman directly in the eye had him peering beyond the blur of veil for a closer study. No great beauty, he decided, nor was she any green girl. If he had to make a stab at guessing, he'd peg her at thirty-odd, perhaps a year or two older than himself, and a spinster judging by the "miss" as well as the dreary clothing. And yet the sage-colored eyes beneath the slash of dark brows were both expressive and arresting, and the full mouth and softly squared jaw completed a pleasing enough picture.

Caught up, it took her discreet cough to remind him of the papers bulging from his pocket. Handing them over, he said, "I think this is the lot."

"Thank you." She took them from him, her gloved fingertips brushing his, and improbably he felt the warm tingle of her touch shoot straight to his groin. Stuffing the papers inside her case, she spotted the mud and dried leaves festooning the front of her coat. "Oh dear, I'm a mess" she said, swiping at the muck with her soiled glove. "I never can seem to manage the trick of remembering a handkerchief."

He fumbled in his pocket. "Here, have mine." He pressed the square into her palm, again experiencing that peculiar surge of heat.

She accepted with a grateful smile and bent to brush away the dirt. "Thank you — again." Straightening to her full, glorious height, she handed back his handkerchief.

Feeling in better spirits, he shook his head. "Keep it. Really, it's the least I can do after mowing you down like so much lawn grass."

She laughed then, a soft airy tinkling that made him think of the wind chimes his landlady insisted on hanging by his backdoor. "All right then... if you're sure." She stuffed the wadded ball of linen into her coat pocket and turned to go. Stopping in her tracks, she looked back. "Mind you don't lose your papers."

"My papers? Oh... quite." Good God, he'd left his best camera out in the open and, worse yet, had been on the verge of forgetting it entirely. What the devil was the matter with him? Jogging over to retrieve it, he thought of his flat, empty save for his cat, and realized he was no longer so very eager to reach it — at least not alone. "I'm not always such an oaf, you know," he called back, wracking his brain for something else to say, some pretense to hold her.

From a few feet away, she cupped a hand to her ear. "Sorry?"

"I said I'm not always such an oaf."

"Oh." She paused in mid-step, appearing to consider that. "Well, I'm not usually such a harridan, either except when I'm nervous — or in this case, late."

"I don't think you're a harridan." Camera in hand, he closed the space separating them in three ridiculously long strides. "It's these protestors, taking up the whole bloody square as if they own every brick and statue, spewing their rubbish at all hours that have everyone on edge. I only came through the park to avoid them."

Mouth lifting into a pretty smile of full pink lips and straight white teeth, she nodded to the park beyond them. "It would seem you've rather failed in that regard."

"Yes, I suppose I have." Looking back over his shoulder, he saw they were the object of a good many whispers and gawking stares. Their mad dash must have made an amusing spectacle indeed. Ordinarily that realization would have set him fuming but rather than care, he found himself saying, "There's a tea shop just around the corner. Allow me to make amends by buying you a cup?"

She shook her head, looking adorably shy and far younger than she had at first when she'd still been tight-lipped and cross. "That isn't necessary. And I've an... engagement to keep."

Ah yes, presumably the engagement for which he had made her late already. A decent fellow would accept defeat and send her on her way. And yet the mental image of how splendid she would look freed from all those ghastly clothes and wearing only his bed sheets prompted him to press, "As you're late already, why not postpone it altogether, at least until you've thawed?"

She shook her head, causing the broken hat feathers to careen like a torn sail. "I can't. I really must be going." The tightening of her mouth told him he'd been too forward, that this time she really did mean to go.

"Ah well, perhaps we'll bump into one another again sometime." He fished inside his coat pocket for one of his business cards as a pretense to asking her name.

"Yes, perhaps we shall," she allowed but there was no hope of it in her eyes. She turned to go and Hadrian knew this time there would be no more keeping her.

Before she could take a step, a squat woman with salt-and-pepper hair and a man's plaid muffler wrapped about her short neck rushed up to intercept her. "Good Lord, Callie, are you all right? I was outside the gate and only just heard what happened."

Beneath her veil, the woman — Callie — flushed bright crimson. "Calm yourself, Harriet. I am perfectly fine. I took a bit of a tumble, and my briefcase spilled." Her shy-eyed gaze shifted to Hadrian. "This gentleman was kind enough to help me."

From behind horn-rimmed spectacles, Harriet's beady-eyed gaze dropped to the camera case in Hadrian's hand. "I don't know what rag of a newspaper you're with, sir, but if your scheme is to scare up scandal and rubbish by waylaying Miss Rivers and photographing her in disarray, then you'd best think again."

Taken off guard, Hadrian started to demur when from the vicinity of the stage, someone with a bullhorn belted out, "Miss Caledonia Rivers to make her address. Five minutes, ladies. Five minutes..."

Callie Rivers. Caledonia Rivers. It was then that the fog inside Hadrian's head lifted. His mystery woman was one of them, a suffragette! And not just any suffragette but their leader! Seeing her through new eyes, he took in the spinsterish coat, the awful hat, and the leather case containing the oh-so important papers, and asked himself how a piquant smile and a pair of pretty ankles had turned him into such an absolute idiot.

He stared at her, feeling like a biblical figure from whose eyes the scales had just fallen. "Your pressing engagement, I take it?"

She answered with a brusque nod, at once prim and proper and utterly businesslike. "Quite."

Now that his initial shock was fading, he could at least appreciate the irony of the situation. The first woman to pique his interest in years was the celebrated champion of a cause he'd come to loathe.

"Lest we part as strangers, my name is St. Claire. Hadrian St. Claire." By this time, he had the sought-after business card in hand and his shock firmly in check. Handing her the card, he said, "I'm not a reporter. I'm a photographer. I have a studio a few blocks from here on Great George. Portraiture is my specialty."

She tucked his card into her pocket with nary a glance. "I'm afraid I'm not terribly fond of having my photograph taken."

"Pity. You'd make for a most intriguing subject." And because he had absolutely nothing to lose — now that he knew who and what she was, what possible interest in her could he have — he looked directly into Caledonia Rivers' beautiful, mortified eyes and added, "I should have recognized you from the newspaper etchings had they but done you justice. You're far prettier, and far younger, than I would have supposed."

Beneath the veil, the stain on her cheeks darkened from pale pink to dusky rose but, to her credit, she didn't look away. "I think you mock me, sir."

"On the contrary, miss, if either of us is the subject of mockery, I rather think it is me." He nodded toward a clutch of young women watching them and giggling behind their gloves.

Harriet skewered him with a sharp look before turning back to the Rivers woman. "Callie, dear, we really must be on our way." She hooked her plump arm through her friend's and began leading her away.

"Ladies." He tipped his bowler to them both, but it was Caledonia Rivers whom he followed with his eyes as she hurried toward the platform, creased and muddied skirts trailing the pavement, broken hat feathers caught up in the fingers of the wind.

So that was Caledonia Rivers, the celebrated suffragette spokeswoman making headlines in all the newspapers. What was it the press was calling her these days? Ah yes, The Maid of Mayfair. Unlike so many of her suffragette sisters whose reputations skirted the fringe of respectability, Caledonia Rivers was said to be so very good and virtuous — and yet not too good or too virtuous to indulge in a bit of a flirt in a public park, the little hypocrite.

He'd only paid her the compliment to torture her, and yet in his roundabout way he'd spoken nothing but the truth. The flesh-and-blood woman with whom he'd passed the last delightful few minutes scarcely resembled the stern-faced Amazon the newspapers made her out to be.

As for the "maid" part, he was deucedly sorry he wouldn't have the opportunity to test that out for himself.

Or would he?

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Commentaires récents

Lu aussi

cette histoire avec cet épilogue laconique me laisse sur ma faim avec un goût d’inachevé. On y évoque certes les avancés du combat pour le début de la reconnaissance du droit des femmes mais ABSOLUMENT rien ou tellement peu de l’histoire des héros durant les 30 années écoulées depuis leur union jusqu’en 1918, année où se situe l’épilogue. Vraiment dommage …

espérons que le second tome sera plus satisfaisant.

Nota : apparemment il manque une bonne partie du chapitre au cours duquel les deux héros passent du statut du « j’aimerai bien aller plus loin » au statut « on a sauté le pas », d’où une lecture une compréhension approximative de ce chapitre : pas de relecture chez les éditeurs ?!?

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Bronze

Une romance douce, tendre, avec une touche de sensualité et d’aventures. Une collection que j’adore « Aventures et Passions », et comme son nom l’indique, il y a pleins d’aventures et de passions. Chacun de ses romans peut être entraînant, doux, érotique, attendrissant. Ils vont feront passer de délicieux moments.

Des personnages avec des caractères puissants, déstabilisants. Attachant. Cette histoire est d’un immense romantisme et pleine de rebondissements. Délicieuse. Chaleureuse. Un entre-deux parfait.

#romance #érotisme #attirance #passion #désir #séduction #amour #tendresse #douceur #sexy #humour

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Lu aussi

Je suis vraiment déçue, l'histoire avait beaucoup de potentiel mais le traitement du sujet était assez mauvais, selon moi.

Callie, l'héroïne, est une activiste politique pour le droit de vote des femmes (elle en est même une leader !), pourtant son personnage n'a rien de l'aplomb, l'assurance ni l'audace du mouvement des suffragettes, et pour être honnête, le message sous-jacent du livre m'a mise assez mal à l'aise.

Voyez-vous, Callie fait partie des "gentilles féministes" qui demandent l'égalité poliment s'il vous plaît je vous en prie merci beaucoup (oui je grince des dents) et qui désapprouvent la violence qui a accompagné le mouvement des suffragettes.

Mais ce n'est pas du tout cela le mouvement des suffragettes, c'est la fin du "demandons poliment" justement. Donc la personnalité de l'héroïne ne collait pas du tout avec ce qu'elle était supposée incarner.

Ce livre qui parle des suffragettes, en est plutôt critique en fait, si on prend en compte ce qu'étaient vraiment les suffragettes. Et la constante distinction entre l'héroïne et les radicales, les "extrémistes" (ses mots pas les miens) était assez gênante.

De plus l'héroïne perpétue un peu le cliché de la féministe coincée du cul et mal à l'aise dans son corps, ce qui est vraiment dommage car son personnage aurait pu être une belle occasion de décrire une héroïne sûre d'elle et à l'aise avec son corps dans une romance historique, chose rare.

Enfin j'aurais aimé plus de scènes de solidarité et d'amitié féminine, plutôt que de femmes qui s'insultent et se rabaissent les unes les autres. En bref une description plus fidèle à la réalité du féminisme en général.

Pour conclure, j'aime beaucoup l'idée de mélanger la romance historique avec le sujet des droits des femmes, je ne comprends pas qu'il n'y ait pas plus de roman de ce genre, car je trouve que les sujets s'y prêtent bien, même si c'était mal exécuté en l'occurrence. Pour moi c'est un flop...

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Pas apprécié

La période époque victorienne était sympa, le sujet sur les suffragettes mieux exploité aurait pu avoir son intérêt. Mais alors le couple là non !! Aucune alchimie, je n’ai rien ressenti, les répliques sont fausses, puériles, sans intérêt d’un banal. Et l’histoire en elle-même n’a rien apporté. Faut-il autant de chapitre sans véritable but pour en arriver au dénouement ? Pour ma part pas sûre !

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Lu aussi

J’ai plutôt bien aimé et l’ai lu d’une traite. J’ai aimé les deux personnages, pour une fois pas des nobles qui ne pensent qu’à leur ego, leur étiquette, leurs dentelles, leurs préséances, leur vacuité, leur fric, qui vivent dans leur bulle et exploitent les autres de génération en génération, cf Downton Abbey. Ici le contexte est définitivement social et politique, c’est sans doute ce qui m’a plu. Les héros sont progressistes et chacun à leur manière s’engagent dans des combats pour lutter contre la misère sociale et les inégalités en tout genre. L’une d’une façon raisonnée et l’autre d’une façon plus épidermique. Peut-être que c’est le côté didactique sur cet aspect social qui n’a pas plu à certaines lectrices. Ils ont des destins très singuliers qui les amènent à cette prise de conscience. Concernant la profession de photographe du héros, j’ai été déçue que cet aspect ne soit pas assez développé. Car à cette époque, les progrès techniques de la photographie ont permis de témoigner d’une façon jamais égalée contre les inégalités. J’ai trouvé que la relation entre les héros marche bien, ils se complètent et se révèlent mutuellement à eux-mêmes. Ce sont des héros modernes et précurseurs de leur temps aussi bien d’un point de vue de leur conscience politique que de leur vie personnelle et leur cheminement est plutôt bien amené.

Il y a hélas un petit bug du côté de l’impression ou de la traduction, car une partie manque, à un moment très chaud, ce qui est assez frustrant.

Je recommande ce livre à de jeunes lectrices qui pourront s’instruire tout en ayant un bon moment de plaisir.

Pour finir, remarquons que les anglais ont accordé le droit de vote à leurs femmes, partiellement en 1918 puis complètement en 1928, alors qu’il aura fallu aux françaises attendre 1944, après la Mongolie, l’Inde, la Turquie, mais avant l’Arabie Saoudite (2011).

Un post-scriptum important, côté érotisme et sensualité, attention à ne pas confier ce livre aux plus de 70 ans, cela risque de choquer.

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Lu aussi

pas lu jusqu'au bout !!! décidément pas fan de cette auteure !!!

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Bronze

Un contexte historique sympa, mais pour le reste c'est pas yerrible: téléphoné, banal, plat...

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Pas apprécié

Pourquoi mais pourquoi je sentais que les personnages étaient faux, l'histoire avait l'air pourtant intéressante je n'ai pas pu les sentir (lui mais surtout elle)

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Bronze

J'ai beaucoup apprécié le fond historique sur le droit de vote des femmes en Angleterre ainsi que le côté politique même s'il aurait pu être encore un peu plus approfondi. On apprend également beaucoup de choses sur les conditions de vie de l'époque et les différents statuts sociaux.

Il est cependant dommage que la traductrice est sautée quelques lignes p.114, même si cela ne gêne pas la compréhension globale du livre, cela reste très frustrant au moment de la lecture de ce passage.

En ce qui concerne les personnages principaux, la narration se fait à la troisième personne mais alterne les points de vue entre Hadrien/Harry et Caledonia. J'ai eu un peu de mal à apprécier ces personnages surtout Caledonia. En effet, ils sont un peu trop stéréotypé et pas assez approfondis pour vraiment s'attacher à eux. C'est également le problème des personnages secondaires qui pour certains sont vraiment très intéressants mais qu'on ne fait que survoler au final.

Enfin, les circonstances qui conduisent nos deux héros à se rencontrer et surtout à se rapprocher sont un peu téléphonées ce qui est vraiment dommage car, par la suite, leur histoire fonctionne bien.

En outre, plus le dénouement approche, plus nous assistons à nombre de rebondissements (peut-être un peu trop?) et retournements de situations relativement imprévisibles. Rourke et Gavin sont un peu plus présents vers la fin, nous donnant envie d'en apprendre plus sur eux tout comme sur Sally qui semble bien cacher son jeu !

Même si ce ne fut pas un coup de coeur, ce livre est très intéressant et agréable à lire. J'espère pouvoir lire le suite.

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Une romance très particulière qui n'a pas su me transporter comme j'aime l'être. L'histoire se tient, les personnages sont bien construits mais le fond politique m'a dérangée.

Très honnêtement, je n'ai pas réussi à finir ce roman...

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Date de sortie

La Trilogie Roxbury, Tome 1 : La Rose de Mayfair

  • France : 2011-04-20 (Français)

Activité récente

Titres alternatifs

  • Vanquished (Men of Roxbury House #1) - Anglais
  • Vanquished (The Roxbury Trilogy #1) - Anglais

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Les chiffres

lecteurs 52
Commentaires 11
extraits 11
Evaluations 13
Note globale 5.58 / 10

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