Love and the Kentish Maid

Charlotte loved her quiet village home, and now that her old friend, Bill Napier, was coming back to Kent for a visit, it would be even more wonderful. Everything would be like it was when they were young together.

But when she learned by Bill had come back, she realized that things would never, ever again go back to what they were.

Original Publisher: Harlequin
Original Year of Publication: 1976
Page Count: 189

Exactly what it says on the tin: our heroine Charlotte has been in love with her brother's friend Bill for half a dozen years. They grew up together, of a sort; Charlotte's family moved around frequently because her father was a diplomat, and the family took Bill in as a child after his parents died. Charlotte longed for her hometown village in Kent, however, and made it a point to return there after she finished secretarial school. She works for the local squire, who opens his manor home to paying guests on certain days of the week. If she could turn back time, she would - she loves the idyll of her tiny country hometown.

Bill comes to visit after eight years apart, and Charlotte is at first happy to see him, but when she learns of his reasons for coming (besides visiting a nearby aunt), she's heartbroken. It seems mechanical engineer Bill wants to erect an oil derrick right there in the hamlet! Charlotte leads the crusade against the modernization of the village, along with her employer, but ultimately it's a fight in vain. The oilmen are here to stay, it seems, at least as long as it takes to survey the place.

Charlotte is also piqued because Bill seems to be paying an awful lot of attention to her employer's spoiled, bitchy daughter, Eloise - and the nephew, Jason, seems to be advancing a very unwelcome suit on her. Thanks to a bunch of old skool romantic tropes and some dumb Big Misunderstandings, both Charlotte and Bill think each other out of reach, and to marry (or already married to) someone else. It takes a huge disaster in the form of a flood to straighten everything out.

This is a competently written short novel, completely in its 1976 element. Apparently the men show their affection by being cold, hostile, and downright aggressive; I for one never really believed Bill was pining away for Charlotte, considering he did everything in his power to either outright insult her, or at least stay away from her. There's subtle, and then there's complete omission, and sadly, this novel's romantic plots (for there are many!) fell squarely into the second bucket.

So, this was worth the read, and worth the 50c I paid for it, but I can't really recommend it to anyone who doesn't have an interest in vintage Harlequin novels.

⭐⭐