Missing Pay Off. "The Gentleman's Garden" by Catherine Jinks. [review]

Abstract

If "The Gentleman's Garden" is anything to go by, Catherine Jinks is well acquainted with the tricks and traditions of romance novels. At first glance, all the necessary elements are present. Dorothea Brande is a model of English refinement and gentility. When her husband, Captain Charles Brande, a rotter and bounder whom she married because he was 'beautiful', is posted to colonial New South Wales, Dorothea's life is changed forever. In the company of their manservant, the mysterious and rugged Irish convict Daniel Callaghan, Dorothea learns about life in this new world, and her own strength and resilience. As glib as such a précis might seem, it has nothing on that offered by the novel's publishers. While the book's blurb emphasises its historical setting, the front cover leaves no doubt that this is a love story: 'Love can be a fragile refuge in a harsh and unforgiving land'.